This tape contains the third teaching in a series entitled, "Empowered for Ministry." The speaker is the Rev. John W. Howe, Rector of Truro Episcopal Church in Fairfax, Virginia. The teaching is titled, "The Word of Wisdom."

Over the past couple of weeks, I've been suggesting something that I think is very radical. I don't know if it strikes you that way or not, but I think it's radical in the literal sense, which means getting to the root of something. What I've been suggesting is that Jesus' ministry, Jesus' own ministry that He exercised when He was among us here as a human being came out of His anointing by the Holy Spirit rather than out of His divinity.

Jesus' ministry came out of His anointing by the Spirit of God rather than out of His divinity as the Son of God. Now, he was the Son of God all of his life and from eternity before that. But it's interesting that he didn't do any ministry during the first 30 years of his life.

He didn't heal the sick. He didn't cast out any demons. He didn't even preach any sermons until he was baptized by John in the River Jordan and the Spirit of God descended upon him.

and after that he never again returned to the carpenter's bench. So I'm suggesting that his ministry and ours comes out of the anointing of the Holy Spirit and in that sense Jesus didn't have something different from what you and I have in the anointing. What he promised us, our birthright as Christians, is you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you.

That we share that anointing. And that's why he said, you're going to do the same things I do. And even greater things than these.

Last week, I specifically tried to show you that Jesus manifested the word of knowledge. That he operated, this is one of the gifts of the Spirit, as Paul lists them in 1 Corinthians 12. one of the gifts of the Spirit is the word of knowledge.

That Jesus was supernaturally given to know some things that he couldn't know naturally. He never learned them. He never studied them.

And it was not because he was omniscient. Because he wasn't omniscient. There's lots of evidence that Jesus did not know everything.

Who touched me? How long has he been this way? How many loaves do you have?

He asked questions that demonstrate he did not know everything. And yet he did know certain things that he couldn't have known naturally. And I'm suggesting to you, once again, that's an example.

The Spirit of God came upon him. The anointing of God came upon him. And God gave him the gift of words of knowledge.

And that usually led into miracles. How many of you have ever been given supernatural knowledge by God? Something that you never studied, never learned.

Ed told us tonight about a word of knowledge that came in the form of a pain, which wasn't his own pain, it was somebody else's pain. That's one way. God sometimes gives a picture.

We heard about some pictures, some mental pictures tonight. Sometimes God gives a word, a specific verbal word, and we simply need to speak it out. I remember the first time that ever happened to me.

And I had never noticed anything in Scripture about words of knowledge. I didn't know that you called it that. Some of you may have heard the story.

It's now going on 24 years ago. That I went into a little church across the street from the university where I was a student. I went in there to pray one night.

And God gave me a word for the organist who was up in the balcony playing the organ. I had met him just once a few days previously, and I walked in the church, and I was overwhelmed with this word, and I spoke it to him. I said, Stu, you're going on a retreat this weekend.

I had just barely met the guy. Stu, you're going on a retreat this weekend. And he said, well, that's very kind of you to invite me.

I hadn't invited him. I said, you're going on a retreat. He said, that's very kind of you to invite me, but I can't go because I've got a friend coming from New York, and we've been planning this thing.

And I said, Stu, your friend will not be able to come. And you're going on a retreat this weekend. And I walked out of the church thinking, my goodness, what in the world has happened?

Where did that come from? The next night I get a telephone call, and this bewildered voice says, my friend has just phoned, he can't come, I'd love to go on your retreat. Stu went on the retreat, became a Christian that day.

Within one week, God had called him to the mission field, and he's been there ever since. That was a word of knowledge. God gave that word of knowledge.

I remember when Neil Labar first became a Christian. I don't know how many of you know, Neil was my student. My first year as a chaplain at Loomis was his senior year, and Neil became a Christian during his senior year at Loomis.

And I remember going off on a weekend retreat with him, brand new Christian, and he found himself engaged in conversation, and kids were coming up who were not yet Christians and asking all those heavy theological questions that we love to wrestle with in our adolescence. And out of Neal's mouth came word after word, which nobody had ever taught him, which he hadn't yet had time to learn. He hadn't read that much scripture.

And these incredibly accurate biblical answers were coming out of his mouth. And he'd say one, you know, and then he'd say, somebody write that down, I've got to remember that. I believe God was giving him words of knowledge.

We weren't familiar with the category at that point, but that's what it was. It was a word of knowledge. A biblical word, but one that Neil had not yet learned or heard from somebody else.

Well, that's words of knowledge. We could go on at great length. But I want to suggest something else tonight.

I want to suggest to you that the word of wisdom operates in exactly the same way. The word of wisdom. That's another one of the gifts that is mentioned in that list in 1 Corinthians 12, the word of wisdom.

What we are not talking about is somebody's natural brilliance or cleverness or sound judgment or sagacity. Don't you love that word? We're not talking about being sagacious.

We're not talking about the kind of wisdom that comes through the school of hard knocks or age or experience or even sensitivity. although all those are very important things. The word of wisdom, just like the word of knowledge, is a supernatural gift given by God.

It's a piece of sudden, unexpected, unpredictable anointing of such insightfulness that it completely resolves a problem situation and it usually leaves people awestruck. The word of wisdom. Notice it's a word.

A word of wisdom. It's not the gift of being wise. I mean, how I'd love to have that, wouldn't you?

That's not what Paul's talking about. It's a word. It's a specific.

God gives a word of wisdom. And again, I want to illustrate that to you from the ministry of Jesus. You might like to follow along.

It's an interesting section in the Gospel of Matthew where one after another after another, Jesus finds Himself in situations where people are trying to entrap Him, ensnare Him, hang Him up on the horns of a dilemma, ask Him a question, boy, this one's going to really stump Him. And out of His mouth comes such an insightful answer that it just stops folks dead in their tracks. Look at Matthew 21.

Verse 23. Jesus entered into the temple and the chief priests and the elders of the people came up to him as he was teaching and they asked him a question. Put him on the spot.

By what authority are you doing these things and who gave you this authority? Jesus answered them, I also will ask you a question. And if you tell me the answer, then I also will tell you by what authority I do these things.

the baptism of John whence was it from heaven or from men and they argued with one another if we say from heaven he will say to us why then did you not believe John but if we say from men we're afraid of this multitude for all hold that John was a prophet so they answered Jesus we do not know and he said to them neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things I believe that was a word of wisdom. God gave him an anointing for that. It absolutely stopped him dead.

It doesn't call it that. It doesn't say he was given a word of wisdom, but I think that's an example of what we're talking about. A little bit later, we move on in the story.

Chapter 22, and picking up at verse 15. Then the Pharisees went and took counsel how to entangle him in his talk. And they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, Teacher, notice the flattery here.

Teacher, we know that you are true and teach the way of God truthfully and care for no man, for you do not regard the position of men. Tell us then what you think. Here's a question for you.

Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not? Again, a dilemma. If he says it is, then the Jews consider that he's sold out.

If he says it's not lawful, then he's guilty of inciting insurrection. But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, Why put me to the test, you hypocrites? Show me the money for the tax.

And they brought him a coin. Jesus said to them, Whose likeness and inscription is this? They said, Caesar's. Then he said to them, Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God.

When they heard it, they marveled. And they left him and went away. It's a word of wisdom.

It's such wisdom it stops them dead in their tracks. It utterly confounds them. Such insightfulness that it leaves people awestruck.

Look at verse 29. The Sadducees follow up with another kind of a question about marriage in heaven. And they give him this incredible story about a woman who marries a man and he dies.

And then his brother marries her and he dies. And seven brothers marry her, it says. And then the woman died as well she might.

And they say, in the resurrection, to which of the seven will she be wife? And Jesus answered them, verse 29, you're wrong. You're completely wrong.

The question is wrong. See, your premises are wrong because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God. For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.

And as for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was said to you by God? And he quotes, I am, present tense, not I was, I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob. They were long dead, humanly speaking, but he says, I am their God in the present tense.

And Jesus says, He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. And when the crowd heard it, they were astonished. Do you see what I'm saying?

That's a word of wisdom. That wasn't just because Jesus had doped all this stuff out. It wasn't just because He was an extraordinary student of Scripture.

It wasn't even just because He was the Son of God. This is an example. Do you want to know how the word of wisdom works, here it is.

Folks are trying to confound Jesus. Instead, he confounds them. God gives him an anointing, an insightfulness that leaves them awestruck.

They were astonished at his teaching. When the Pharisees heard it, heard that they had silenced the Sadducees, they came together and they asked him another question about which is the greatest commandment. And he answers, love God and love your neighbor.

In verse 41, Jesus asks them a question, saying, what do you think of the Christ? Whose son is he? They said to him, he's the son of David.

He said to them, how is it then that David, inspired by the Spirit, calls Messiah, Christ, calls him Lord, saying, the Lord, God, said to my Lord, Messiah, sit at my right hand till I put thy enemies under thy feet. What you need to understand there is that from a Jewish point of view, your descendant could never be your Lord. Your son would never be more glorified than you are.

So if Messiah is simply David's human descendant, how would David ever call him Lord? If David thus calls him Lord, how is he his son? And no one was able to answer him a word, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions.

One after another, after another, after another. And the bottom line, they were astonished. They didn't even try anymore.

That's a word of wisdom in operation. Back in Matthew 15. I love this little commentary.

Sorry, Matthew 13, verse 53. When Jesus had finished all these parables, he went away from there and coming to his own country, He taught them in their synagogues so that they were astonished. There it is again.

And said, where did this man get this wisdom and these mighty works? Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary?

Are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? Are not all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all this?

Where did this man get this wisdom? Did you think that it was because He was the Son of God? I did, until I began reading from a new perspective.

And I now think it was because He was anointed by the Spirit of God. I think this is an example of the Word of Wisdom. It's a lot harder to prove that.

It's a lot harder to demonstrate that a given piece of wisdom is the word of wisdom, a supernatural anointing from God, than it is to demonstrate that a given piece of knowledge is a supernatural anointing. I mean, if I tell you a fact that I couldn't possibly know except by revelation, that's one thing. But if I say something that is just incredibly wise, it might be because I'm just incredibly wise.

Okay? So it's a lot harder to demonstrate. But I'm submitting to you that it operates exactly the same way.

Exactly the same way. We're commanded all the way through Scripture, especially in the book of Proverbs, to seek after wisdom. But that primarily means righteousness.

to seek to inculcate into our lives right choices so that our lifestyle becomes godly and we exhibit the kind of wisdom that reflects God's own character. That's really the theme of the book of Proverbs. It begins by announcing its purpose, that men may know wisdom and instruction, understanding words of insight, that they might receive instruction in wise dealings, righteousness, justice, and equity.

That's the wisdom of building godly choices into our lives. That theme carries over into the New Testament as well. This fascinating comment in Hebrews 5.

The writer says, You ought to be teachers by this time, but instead you need somebody to teach you the first principles of God's Word. He says, You become dull of hearing. You need milk, not solid food.

For everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their faculties trained by practice to distinguish good from evil. That's the wisdom of godliness.

Those who have their faculties trained by practice. How do you develop that kind of wisdom? By godly choices.

You build it into your life. So that by practice, when a question comes up and you're confronted with a new circumstance, there's no question about it. You know what the answer is because you've been building it into your life.

We're commanded to seek after that kind of wisdom. But that's not the word of wisdom. The word of wisdom is an anointing from God.

You can store up facts in your brain so that you become a master at trivial pursuit. That's not the word of knowledge. And you can cultivate righteousness so that your responses to situations reflect a godly wisdom, but that's not necessarily the word of wisdom.

You with me so far? I'm going to be very brief about this. In David Pitch's marvelous little book, Come Holy Spirit, he's got this definition.

The gift of the word of wisdom is the special ability that God gives to members of the body of Christ to receive instant insight on how a given revelation, word of knowledge, prophecy, may best be applied to a specific situation or need arising in the body of Christ or how a given situation or need is to be resolved or helped or healed. A special gift, ability that God gives to members of the body of Christ to receive instant insight on how to minister, notice how that goes with other gifts. If you've gotten a word of knowledge, how do you share that with somebody?

And David told us stories, and we've been hearing stories from John Wimber about folks getting a word of knowledge about somebody else's sin. How do you apply that in a way that's going to lead to that person coming to Christ rather than just offending the daylights out of them? I believe that Jesus, with the woman at the well, had not only a word of knowledge, but a word of wisdom, how to share it.

You remember the story? Where he says, go and call your husband, and she says, sir, I have no husband. And he says, well, that's true.

Of course, you have had five, and the guy you're living with you're not married to, but that is true. I don't know how you read that story. I cannot picture Jesus saying that without just the smallest quizzical smile on his face.

He's not tirading against her. He's not calling down the wrath of God. He's not even judging her.

With great tenderness and compassion, he's saying, you're not fooling anybody. I mean, God knows exactly what you're like. Oh, it's true, you don't have any husband, lady.

And she's cut to the quick by that. You know what the response is? She runs back into town and says, Come, meet a man who told me everything I ever did.

Well, he didn't. He told her one thing. The thing. See?

You know, she was the first Gentile convert. She was a Samaritan lady. Not quite a Gentile.

Sort of a half Gentile. She was the first non-Jewish convert. She's the first non-Jewish evangelist.

and it says that the whole town believed in Jesus first because of that woman's witness and then because they came and met him themselves. Jesus had a word of knowledge and he was given an instant insight into how to apply it to her so that it didn't destroy but in fact it led to her conversion. I think the most important thing about the word of wisdom is simply that God delights to give it.

he delights to give gifts we heard that tonight what do you call that was that a prophecy or a word of exhortation or whatever it was that God gave to Karen at the beginning of the service God said through her that if we would humble ourselves he would delight to equip us with gifts to give us gifts and this is one of them he delights to give a word of wisdom when you're faced with a circumstance and you don't have a clue how to deal with it. Pray that most basic and most humble of all prayers, Help! And God may give you a word of wisdom how to deal with that situation.

I want to give you three Scriptures. I just ask you to consider them. First is Proverbs 3.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not rely on your own insight. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make straight your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes.

Fear the Lord and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones. That's wisdom as a lifestyle.

Luke 21. Jesus is speaking about the persecution that will come to those who follow Him. And he says, settle it therefore in your minds, not to meditate beforehand how to answer.

For I will give you a mouth and wisdom which none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict. You like that promise? Now the one was a lifestyle, the other is quite different.

This is not a lifestyle. He says, expect me in the moment to give you words of wisdom that your adversaries will not be able to withstand or contradict. This is wisdom as equipment for battle.

In James chapter 1, a promise to all of us. If any of you lacks wisdom, do you? Does that apply to anybody here?

I find myself in that scripture somewhere. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all men generously and without reproaching, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind, for that person must not suppose that a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways, will receive anything from the Lord.

How did Jesus know what to do? How to do it? How to apply the words of knowledge?

How to deal with people? How did He know how to do that? Was it because He was the Son of God?

I think it was because He was anointed by the Spirit of God. And the promise is that you and I have that same anointing available to us and when we need it as we need it we ask God to give it and he'll give it generously wisdom as a gift let's bow our heads together Spirit of God equip us with your gifts as you know our need and in particular make us seekers after a lifestyle of wisdom and after words of wisdom to meet every situation. For we ask it in Jesus' name.

Amen.