Overcomer- week 6

There are lots of stories I’ve seen this week of soldiers who have had their lives saved by one very important thing. A helmet!

Sgt. Roger Daniels (U.S. Army, 2012)

While on a combat patrol in Afghanistan, Sgt. Roger Daniels and his unit were ambushed by Taliban fighters who opened fire with automatic weapons. Daniels was struck in the head by a direct hit from a large-caliber rifle round—an impact that felt like being struck by a baseball bat.

Instead of puncturing his skull, the round hit his Advanced Combat Helmet (ACH) at an angle, cracked the interior composite layers, and curled around the helmet's inner shell before exiting out the back. Daniels survived with only a concussion and minor scalp lacerations. He said I actually have complained many times to myself about having to always wear this bulky helmet when I’m maneuvering. I don’t complain anymore.

Many of those soldiers keep that helmet with them for the rest of their lives. They hang them up or put them somewhere as a reminder of what might have been.

Ephesians 6:16–17 NKJV

above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God;

The helmet can also be seen in some ways like the shield last week, it is for protection of an important thing- our minds and how does the enemy attack our minds? lies, false teaching, and confusion

This is so huge today. It’s always been around, but it seems like the further we go along, the more the enemy is attacking the minds of mankind, and there is a word that describes our society, it’s CONFUSION!

So how do we fight confusion? How do we protect our minds? He says, put on the helmet of salvation! And he shows us that the opposite of confusion is WISDOM.

I. The Helmet of Salvation protects us from confusion with the wisdom of God.

What does the metaphor of the helmet represent? I believe this metaphor represents the mind of Christ, that God wants us to have our mind occupied as the mind of Christ. When you put on this helmet, you put on the assurance of your salvation and you protect your mind from Satan’s deceptions with the wisdom of God. This wisdom comes to you through the person of Jesus Christ.

We never see Jesus confused in scripture. In his humanity, he experienced pain, suffering, sorrow, but never was confused. He had the wisdom of God. He was the wisdom of God.

1 Corinthians 1:30 (NKJV) But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—

II. What is biblical wisdom about?

The wisdom of God equips us and prepares us for God’s purpose. It strengthens us so we can become victors over confusion and not victims of confusion, so we can overcome falsehood and uncertainty with the God-given confidence that comes through Christ alone.

A. Wisdom is about practice.

Wisdom is often confused with knowledge but there’s a huge difference.

(my wife got a lot of books about babies when she was pregnant, but they can only teach so much right?) Knowledge involves the accumulation of facts. Wisdom is the ability to apply knowledge and achieve the best outcome. Someone once told me that wisdom is knowledge using its head. For decades, Harvey Penick was the head golf professional at the Austin Country Club in Texas. Over a 60-year career, he taught thousands of everyday players alongside legendary pros like Tom Kite, Ben Crenshaw, Mickey Wright, and Betsy Rawls.

Starting in the 1920s, Penick kept a small, red leather-bound notebook in his pocket. Whenever he discovered a useful insight about golf, sportsmanship, or human character, he jotted down a brief note. He kept the notebook locked in his bag, sharing its contents only with his most dedicated students. He never intended to publish it; it was simply his personal record of a lifetime of observation.

In 1991, at age 87 and in frail health, Penick agreed to let writer Bud Shrake take a look at the notebook. Shrake recognized its brilliant simplicity and helped format it into a book. When Simon & Schuster offered Penick a $90,000 advance, Penick was stunned—he innocently asked if he would ever be able to earn that much money back to pay the publisher, not realizing the advance was his to keep.

Published in 1992, Harvey Penick's Little Red Book became the best-selling sports book in history. Could he have written that book when he was 30 years old? NO It took decades to gain that wisdom.

Wisdom is acquired through our efforts to learn, and grow, and study. It’s not automatic and it’s not instantaneous. There’s a reason why this group is the wisest group in the church? What’s that reason? they say gray-haired guys have more wisdom. It’s not about the hair, it’s about the years. Wisdom is about practice.

It’s also about perspective.

B. Wisdom is about perspective.

There’s another misunderstanding about what the gift of wisdom really is and how we apply it in our lives. We mentioned perspective last week too… It was in a book by J.I. Packer called, «Knowing God,» And he uses this metaphor-He said, «Just imagine for a moment that you’re in a train station and you’re standing on the end of a platform watching the constant movement of trains coming in and going out. And from this limited perspective, your vision and comprehension of the overall working of the train system is almost nonexistent. All you see is trains doing this… now imagine you go into the station’s control center and there’s a long electronic wall chart with a diagram of the entire system showing all the tracks extending 5 miles on either side of the station and by following the little lights moving on the chart, you can locate each train with all its cars and see exactly where it’s headed. As you watch the system through the eyes of the men who control it, you understand why trains are stopped, and why they’re started, and why they’re diverted and sidetracked, and the logic behind every movement becomes clear when you see the entire picture».

Wisdom is seeing beyond the incidental. It’s seeing more of the entire picture. And the mistake that many Christians make when they’re seeking wisdom is to assume that if they find it, it will enable them to see life from the control center instead of the train platform. but that’s not how wisdom works in the Christian life. We’re not shown the overall pattern of the universe, or how we fit into it, or where we’re gonna end up. We’re not shown God’s longterm plan for us or how our actions today will play into that plan tomorrow. All we get is one day at a time. This station was a good one, that one wasn’t, so take this one, don’t take that one. But when we humble ourselves, and we desire God’s wisdom, and we listen to his words, and we obey them, he gives us all the wisdom that we need for the moment, the wisdom which usually means enough to take the next step. That’s all we need to face the present situation and make the right decision. Wisdom is about practice and perspective ,also about patience.

C. Wisdom is about patience.

Although we can’t always see how all the details of our lives fit together,

(who likes doing puzzles, i do, and they take lots of time, and can drive you crazy but in the end, they are so satisfying.) God has revealed to us the ending of our story. We do know where this journey ends, In spite of the confusion around us, we keep our eyes on the prize, in the midst of that process, life can be filled with love, and beauty, and joy. It can bring us one obstacle temptation or crisis after another. People with all kinds of different goals and standards may try to use us or delude us, but if we keep our eyes on God and we lock into his wisdom, he promises us the wisdom we need to overcome this daily confusion in our life. And I love this verse in James. It says, «If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all men liberally… That means he doesn’t scold us for asking, but he gives us what we need.

III. How does the overcomer acquire wisdom?

So, how do we get this wisdom? Do we just put our Bible under our pillow at night and say, «Lord, may it pass from the Bible through the pillow to my head, I wish to be wise in the morning»? No, it doesn’t work that way. So, what would happen if you read Proverbs and Psalms every month for a whole year 12 times? Proverbs and Psalms are part of what the Bible calls wisdom literature. So, that would be a good thing to read. One of the early discoveries of my Proverbs study was that many promises God has given to us are promises that are only for those who seek after wisdom. So, let me ask you this question, are you willing to seek after wisdom?

Here’s what the Bible says,

Proverbs 3:13–15 NKJV

Happy is the man who finds wisdom, And the man who gains understanding; For her proceeds are better than the profits of silver, And her gain than fine gold. She is more precious than rubies, And all the things you may desire cannot compare with her.

(why does He refer to wisdom as she/her??? hmmm.)

And the question is, «Okay, how do I get it»?

Our ability to acquire God’s wisdom is not so much a matter of doing as it is of being. It’s not so much a matter of activity as a matter of attitude.

Four attitudes to grow in wisdom:

A. A Humble Spirit

The first step in acquiring wisdom is a proper understanding of one’s relationship to God. Solomon put it this way, «The fear of the Lord». You know the rest of it? «Is the beginning of wisdom, but fools despise wisdom and instruction». God wants us to hunger for his wisdom. We need to be confident, but we don’t need to be arrogant. There’s a difference between confidence if your confidence is in God, and arrogant if you’re all full of yourself. The Prophet Jeremiah said a mouthful when he said this,

Jeremiah 9:23–24 NKJV

Thus says the Lord: “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, Let not the mighty man glory in his might, Nor let the rich man glory in his riches; But let him who glories glory in this, That he understands and knows Me, That I am the Lord, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight,” says the Lord.

So, the first step to get wisdom is to know you need it. It’s to be humble enough to reach out for it. It’s to get past your own wisdom and all of our own, even sometimes your goals and plans. they all need to be submitted to the Lord. And when we see they’re headed in a direction they shouldn’t be going, we need to stop and put everything on hold until we hear from God which way to go.

B. A Hungry Soul

So, the next thing you know after a humble spirit is you need a hungry soul. Imagine the company you work for suddenly puts you in charge and you are now responsible for the whole company and you have to make all the decisions. You’re gonna be really hungry to figure out what to do. You’re gonna have a desire to know. Wisdom has to be sought in order to find it. In other words, it’s not gonna just come to you. It’s not something that you just run into in life. You have to desire it. If wholehearted seeking after God is a prerequisite for wisdom, many of us know where our problem lies. We halfheartedly seek after him. We say, «Oh Lord God, if you got anything you want to add to this, I’d be happy to hear it».

We use the phrase “with our whole heart” a lot… Psalm 119 we’re instructed to seek god with our “whole heart” six times: keep God’s testimonies with our whole heart, vs.2 seek God’s commandments with our whole heart, vs. 10 obtain God’s Word with our whole heart, vs.34 entreat God’s favor with our whole heart, v.58 keep God’s precepts with our whole heart, vs.69 cry unto God with our whole heart, vs.145

I hate to bring up food right now, cause i know some of you might get in line early, but, notice this: When we are physically hungry and miss a meal, we soon feel like we’re starving. When we are spiritually hungry, it’s just the opposite, when we miss our spiritual meal, we begin to lose our appetite. The less we eat God’s Word, the less hungry we are for God’s Word.

You have to have a humble spirit, you have to have a hungry soul, and then you have to have a hearing heart.

C. A Hearing Heart

As the 1944 presidential election approached, Franklin D. Roosevelt had been president for three terms. With the nation deeply involved in World War II, Roosevelt’s health was failing and his advisers thought there was a good chance that if he was reelected, Roosevelt would die during the fourth term. but that would leave his Vice President Henry Wallace to guide the nation through the rest of the war, and they didn’t believe that he would be up to the task. So, for the 1944 election, Roosevelt made a little known senator from Missouri, Harry S. Truman his running mate and put Wallace on the sidelines and the Roosevelt-Truman ticket was elected easily. Now, watch what happened. Three months into his fourth term, the worst happened. Roosevelt died of a massive cerebral hemorrhage and Vice President Harry Truman, with less than three months of executive office experience under his belt, was suddenly the President of the United States. Only after being sworn into office did Truman learn the shocking news that America was in possession of an atomic bomb. Secrecy about the bomb project that excluded the vice president from the need-to-know circle during his first three months in office and he became the president to use that bomb later that year in Japan and bring it into the war. Just try to imagine yourself in that role. When Truman met with the reporters the day after taking office, he told them, «I don’t know whether you fellas ever had a load of hay fall on you, but when they told me yesterday about the president’s death, I felt like the moon, the stars, and the planets had fallen on my head». And a few days later in his first address before a joint session of congress, Truman expressed his dependence on God for wisdom in the face of his new responsibilities. Quote, “At this moment, I have a heart of prayer. As I have assumed my duties, I humbly pray to Almighty God in the words of King Solomon, 'Therefore give to your servant an understanding heart to judge your people that I may discern between good and evil, for who is able to judge this great people of yours? '” He was referring to 1 Kings chapter 3 and verse 9 in his unique prayer to God when Solomon was told by God, “Ask whatever you want and I will give it to you,” remember that? And he didn’t ask for riches. He didn’t ask for long life. He didn’t ask for anything. He said, “Lord God, I want a hearing heart”. He asked for wisdom. What a request. Although we may have a humble spirit and a hungry soul, we still need to have a hearing heart.

We need to be willing to listen to what God tells us when we ask him for his help. Proverbs says, “A wise man will hear and increase in learning. Listen to the counsel and receive instruction that you maybe wise in your latter days. Incline your ears, hear the words of the wise». These are the words of the Proverbs. And there’s so much of God’s wisdom all around us, available to us from those who have walked with God before us, but we have to train ourselves to listen. And it’s ridiculous because God gave us two ears and only one mouth. That’s for a reason yet most of us, the mouth is greatly overworked and the ears are in a state of semiretirement. One man explained it this, «A wise man talks because he has something to say, fools talk because they have to say something».

So, you need a humble spirit, what is that? -«I know I don’t have to the answers». You need a hungry soul. «Lord God, I’m desperate for your help. You need a hearing heart that says, „Okay, I get it. I hear what you’re saying. I intake this information“.

D. A Heeding Mind

One last thing, a heeding mind. A humble spirit says, „I need God“. A hungry soul says, „I desire God“. A hearing heart says, „I will listen to God“. But a heeding mind says, „I will do what God tells me to do“.

If you don’t get to that point, all the rest of it’s meaningless. To know that we need God is important, to reach out for him is imperative, to hear what he has to say is crucial, but all of it is meaningless unless we determine to do what he tells us to do. You have to come to this process and say, „Lord God, I need your input into this thing. I need your wisdom and I’m saying to you upfront, whatever you tell me to do, I’m gonna do it. Lord God, I’m gonna sign the bottom of this paper. You fill in the top part. Whatever it is you want me to do, I’m ready. I’m gonna do it,“ the heeding heart. In his teachings on wisdom and perspective, Charles Swindoll tells a story from his own military service as a young Marine stationed in the Pacific.

During a rainy, miserable night in field training, Swindoll and a squad of Marines were ordered into cold, muddy foxholes in the dead of night. The rain was coming down in sheets, turning the ground into a sticky slush. Cold, exhausted, and thoroughly miserable, most of the men began to complain bitterly. Swindoll himself recalled feeling deeply discouraged, frustrated, and confused by the absurdity and discomfort of the situation.

Nearby, however, was a veteran gunnery sergeant. While everyone around him was swearing, venting, and slipping deeper into gloom, the sergeant calmly sat down in his muddy ditch, pulled out his mess kit, and began humming a tune.

Swindoll looked over at the sergeant in disbelief and asked how he could possibly stay so calm and content sitting in a hole full of mud and freezing water.

The sergeant looked up, smiled, and offered a simple piece of wisdom that Swindoll never forgot:

"Son, when you’re in a hole full of mud, you’ve got two choices. You can sit there and hate the mud, or you can sit there and adapt to the mud. Either way, you’re in the mud. I’d rather keep my peace while I'm in it."

Swindoll realized that the sergeant understood a fundamental truth about human life: while we rarely get to choose our difficult or confusing circumstances, we always possess God-given control over the attitude we choose in response.

That moment shaped Swindoll’s life and ministry. He recognized that wisdom isn't the ability to magically change a bad situation; it's the spiritual discipline to guard your heart, adapt gracefully, and maintain God's peace while navigating confusing situations like this.

From this story and similar experiences, Swindoll coined one of his most famous, widely quoted aphorisms used in countless sermons:

"Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react."

When Swindoll preaches this message (often tying it to James 1:2–5 or Philippians 4:11–13), his key takeaways focus on:

You cannot always control the outcome, the weather, the economy, or other people's actions, but biblical wisdom gives you authority over your mind and heart.

Wisdom is Action, Not Reaction: Unwise people react impulsively to pain or confusion with anger and panic. Wise believers pause, surrender the moment to God, and choose an intentional, grace-filled response.

We can have contentment in the 'Mud': True Christian maturity is learned not on the mountaintop, but by holding onto God's perspective when you find yourself trapped in a muddy hole.