God's Foolishness vs Man's Wisdom Preaching Outline

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Slide 6	The problem then (as today) is the problem of looking for answers to life’s big questions from philosophy (man’s wisdom) The result? Man’s wisdom is not enough. It is limited, partial wisdom.T. S. Eliot: “All our knowledge only brings us closer to our ignorance,And all our ignorance, closer to death. But closer to death, no closer to God. [And then he asks this haunting question:] Where is the life we have lost in living?”
Slide 7	But – problem is when human philosophy tries to answer the big questions of life – where we come from, where we are going, why we are here, what’s right and what’s wrong. Human wisdom oversteps its bounds and bites off more than it can chew when it tries to tackle those questions.
Slide 8	If we want to know the ultimate meaning & purpose of life, the source of happiness, joy, fulfillment & peace – we look beyond human wisdom. No matter how much “philosophizing” is done, human wisdom falls short in giving us the answers to life.C.S. Lewis: “No clever arrangement of bad eggs will make a good omelet.”
Slide 9	When Isaiah made his prophecy, Sennacherib (King of Assyria) was planning to conquer Judah. The Lord told Isaiah not to worry, God would protect them – not because of the strength of Judah’s army, or King Hezekiah’s strategy. No. God promised that Judah would be saved solely by God’s power, with no human help. He destroyed 185,000 Assyrians with just one angel! (Isaiah 37:36) (Read about it in II Kings 19) All Israel had to do was trust & obey.
Slide 10	Listen: How you view the cross determines your destiny!“Foolishness” = moria, from which we get the word moron.
Slide 11	We are more educated than our forefathers, but we are not more moral.We have more means of helping each other, but we are more selfish.We have more means of communication, but we do not understand each other any better.We have more psychology & education, yet more crime and more war. No, we have not changed, except to find more ways to express and excuse our own sinful nature. You look throughout history and you will find that human wisdom has never been able to solve the basic problems of man.
Slide 12	Man’s increased knowledge tends to increase problems, not solve them. Hatred increases, misunderstandings increase, mental breakdowns increase, wars increase, drunkenness, crime, family problems.. all increase. Not only in numbers, but also in seriousness.
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Slide 17	When I Survey the Wondrous CrossIsaac WattsWhen I Survey…Forbid it Lord…
Slide 18	Jeremiah 9:23-24
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Slide 20	I hope you don’t come to church to hear opinions about politics, philosophy, economics, or even religion. I hope you come to hear God’s Word taught and preached through the pastor or teacher. There really is no other message than God’s Word.
Slide 21	The story is told of a small English village that had a small chapel, as many English villages do. The chapel was made of stone and had the rather traditional ivy-covered walls. Over the arch when the chapel was originally built they had inscribed the words, “We Preach Christ Crucified” so that everybody who ever entered would know what they were there for.
Slide 22	There was a generation of godly men that did exactly that, they preached Christ crucified. But times changed and the ivy grew and pretty soon it covered the last word and the sign said, “We Preach Christ” and the godly men changed and there were other men who came and they preached Christ—Christ the example, Christ the humanitarian, Christ the ideal teacher.
Slide 23	The years passed and the ivy grew and finally it said, “We Preach” and they did preach all right – about economics, the social gospel, book reviews, and whatever else. How sad! How tragic!
Slide 24	My faith has found a resting place not in device or creed, I trust the ever living one, His wounds for me shall plead, I need no other argument, I need no other plea, It is enough that Jesus died and that He died for me.