We are officially in summer. Officially. And
we have some things going on this summer that we need to make you aware
of. But primarily what I want to tell you quickly about
is we have VBX coming up in July.
And you say vbx. What is vbx? You hear a
vbs. And I just looked at Sherry and I said, can you. Kids don't want
to go to school in the summer. Let's call it Vacation Bible experience.
And they can experience the Lord's goodness. And
the children's ministry needs help. It takes an army to do a
VBX or S. And we need your
help. This is a churchwide event, and it is for children and
goodness. I think our last VBS was with Pastor
Margaret at least 15 years ago. Rhonda, would
you have any clue? It's at least 15, if not more.
And it's been a while, but, man, what a fruitful season that we went through.
So we're going to open up these doors again. We feel like the Lord has
us doing that on the app at the bottom. If you go to
sign ups, you can sign your child up. You do need to register
so that they can prepare. They've got crafts and food and a bunch of
different things, but also an opportunity for you to serve.
And, you know, you may say to yourself, well, I can't. I don't feel like
I can teach kids. Well, we don't need just teachers. We need somebody that can
sit and greet people at the door and check people in. We need people who.
We need people who can help direct traffic. We need help people who can pass
out desserts at tables and do crafts with kids. There's something for everybody.
But it's four days in July, so if you'll sign up on the
signups and get registered, you can tell your friends, community, this is a great thing
to bring your neighbors to if they've got kids. And it's at
nighttime. And we did it at nighttime because some of you work during
the day. And we want to offer opportunity for everybody to come be a part
of this. And so make plans for this in July
sound good? If it's good, say yeah. All right, well, gotta
save the very best for right now and in our lives.
In our lives, God tends to bring people to us
that walk alongside us, that befriend us, that are
loyal and faithful. I know he's done that several times in my life.
And the person that's gonna be speaking tonight is one of those people that have
been walking along the journey with me. For two decades. And,
you know, I can only put Vonda up so often because she's got
all the good stories about me. And so I've got kind of be
cautious about, you know, how much of a floodgate do I want to give this
lady to open and tell on me. So we'll see what she does
today. It's a powerful word. So I want you to
lean in this morning. God has something he wants to say to us this
morning. Would you guys please welcome Vonda Coble.
Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. How's everybody doing?
Everybody's doing good. Okay. That's wonderful. I
happen to be a headmaster at a school, and most of the time, when I
come out and I say, good morning, how's everybody? Like I said, oh, come
on. Come on. We can do that again. I don't know. There's something about a
hyped good morning. So let me try that. Let me try that one more time.
Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Yeah. How's it going?
Right. This is actually the best part, place to be in. And that is in
the house of the Lord. Yeah. So we have been
learning about or hearing about the greatest stories
ever told. Yeah. And I have the honor
of talking and sharing today about a young
man named Solomon. He was Solomon at first,
and then he became the king who happened to be
the wisest man on the face of
earth. So we're gonna go into that now because I
am a teacher at heart. I've been teaching for a lot of years.
The teacher in me constantly comes out. So I'm gonna give
you a brief overview of what we're gonna do today. How's that?
So the first thing that we're gonna do is we are going to
overview the story of king Solomon in
1 Kings, chapters 1 through 11. Okay.
I'm gonna briefly go through them, kind of an overview,
and then after that, we are going to dive
into some wisdom
with him being the wisest man on earth. I believe that there
are lessons from his life that the Lord
would like to share with us. So we're going to do an overview
of his life, and then we're going to talk about some
lessons that we can learn from. From his
life. Is that okay? All right, so the
title of the story or today's lesson is Lessons from the Life
of King Solomon. First Kings 3.
Five through nine is where we're going to go in and out of. But if
you have your Bibles, you can go ahead and go there right now.
Meanwhile, for the rest of us, let's go ahead and stand,
and we're going to read the word.
Are we ready? Here we go. At
Gideon, the Lord appeared to Solomon during
the night in a dream. And God said,
ask for whatever you want.
Solomon answered, you have shown great
kindness to your servant because
you have continued this great kindness to him and have
given him his son.
Now.
But I am only a little child.
Your service is here among the people,
great people.
And to distinguish between.
Dear Heavenly Father, thank you so very much for this day. We thank you
for this day. For you have given us new grace and
new mercy today. God, I ask that you would open
up our eyes to see what it
is that you have for each and every one of us today.
God, open up our ears so that we would
hear exactly what you have to say
to each and every one of us. And, God, soften our
heart so that we can be
shapeable and moldable in your hands.
God, I personally ask that you would do just that for me,
especially today. I've studied, I've learned.
But, Lord, you may have something to share. And so I ask that you
open up my ears so that I could hear exactly what it is that
you're saying. Dear Heavenly Father, less of me.
So that Jesus Christ can be more.
Amen. All right, let's have a seat.
So as we talked, we're going to do a little bit of a brief
view, a preview. So sorry,
Preview of King Solomon's life. But
I want to encourage you all, one,
I want to encourage you, don't be distracted by the sound of the rain. But
you know, it's happening, okay? So it's going
on, it's happening. We're gonna be fine. People
will actually go and get your car for you. Can I just say a side
note? Where is Justin? Is Justin here? Where's Justin? He's not here,
you all. He's on a sabbatical. Okay. Good old Justin. Well,
it was raining one time, and I looked at Justin and I said,
I don't do well in water. Can you go get my car?
You all. Justin went and got my card, brought it up here under the
awning for me. And I was just like, I'm so spoiled.
But thank you, Justin. We got good people here, so don't
worry. It's raining. It is what it is. Okay? So we're gonna focus.
But let me see. I also, because I'm a teacher at heart,
I. I do not have a problem with people talking back to me. Okay? Just
so you know, especially if you see me do this, that means Talk to me.
Okay, so how many of you all like to binge
watch shows? Raise your hand. Oh,
okay. Okay, okay. Oh, this is great. Okay, I got good news for
you. Open up your Bible this week. Come on and
read. First Kings. If you like to
binge watch, that tells me that you like drama.
Okay, that tells me that you like to have
action because you love to go. Because you know what happens? It's
over. And it says, next episode. And you say, bam,
next episode. Right? Back in the day, I'm from the
late 90s. Back in the day, you had to wait a whole week.
Bottom line. So at the end, you're just like, oh, my gosh, no,
no, I have to wait all week. Whole week. Not now. Guess what?
We can just binge. Well, I got a show for you. It's called
King Solomon's Life. Now, listen, I'm
gonna give you an overview, but I'm just gonna tell you, these
are important things to me that I thought was interesting, but you may
think something else is interesting. So I want you to go home
this week and read. Because the details,
the details, they are on. So
you have got to go and read. What are you going to go read first?
Kings. There it is right there. Here we go.
Chapter one. Chapter one.
King Solomon becomes king. Now, so this chapter
starts off David, which was King Solomon's
father. David was of course, age. He was sick.
And so it gives you a little detail. Again, I'm just going to pass through
it, but it starts out like that, okay? Now, as he is
sick, Solomon has an older brother. And his
older brother's name is Adonijah.
Am I saying it right, everybody? Adonijah. Yes. I'm
always. Just want to make sure I say it correctly. Adonijah
figured to himself, my daddy is not doing well.
So you know what? I'm gonna go ahead and make myself king.
And that's what he does. He invites some people,
he invites others to this party. He has a feast. He throws
a party. And in this party, he says, hey, everybody,
I'm the new king. Okay, so that's
not exactly how it happens, but that's what happened. Okay? So
Nathan the prophet, he goes to
Bathsheba, who is Solomon's mother, and he
just says, this is me paraphrasing
Bathsheba. Do you know that Adonijah is throwing a
party because he's making himself king? And she said,
what? Yes. And so,
same time he says, didn't David tell you? Didn't he promise you to
Solomon? Yes, he did. So he said, okay, this what you
do. You go in to King David and tell him what's
happening, and then I'm going to come in behind and confirm it. Cool.
Got it? Got it.
Excuse me. Pardon me. King David, may I come in? Which I thought is
so wonderful. You know women. We got to know how to do things. You know
what I'm saying? She came in, and she said, king David,
did you know that Adonijah is throwing a party
to become king right now? Now, listen, if it had been me,
I'd have come in. David, do you know that Adonai, you know,
she didn't do that. She didn't do that. She came in, and she
asked questions, and David was just like, what? Meanwhile, who comes
in? The prophet Nathan. Yes. He
does the same thing. King David, did you know that your
son Adoniah is throwing a party at. I'm telling you all.
It's in there. Read it. Okay. And so David says,
he's doing what? No. Mnh. Mnh. Go get
Solomon. Get Solomon. Bring Solomon in. Bring him
on my mule. Put him on the throne. Okay. All this
happens in chapter one. No lie. And so
Adonijah, he's at the party. I'm king.
I'm king. Yes, I'm king. Y' all singing, I'm king. He's king. Yes. He
having a good old time. And they're having a good time. Cause it says, it's
in there. I'm not making this up. There's a feast, and
he's partying. He is the king. And then all of a sudden,
they're like, wait a minute. There's some noise happening. And
it's louder than what's happening in here. So they're like, what is going on?
So this one man, he goes out. He goes, checks out. He's like, oh, my
gosh. They're making Solomon a king. So he comes back, and he says to
Adonijah, I got something to tell you. He's like, oh, you're a great
man. You always come with a good word. What you got to say? And he's
like, it's not a good word. It's not a good word.
King David is making Solomon the king
right now. This is during the party. Well, what do you think everybody in the
party's doing? They start freaking out. They leave the party.
Meanwhile, Adonijah goes. And he goes to the ark, and he's holding on. Cause right
now, what you think he's doing? Praying for forgiveness? Cause he recognizes his life.
You know what I'm saying? It's about the go. Interestingly. Well,
Solomon hears about it. Bring Adonijah
to me. He does. He comes in, he's like, I'm so sorry.
You know, I'm so sorry. And King Solomon,
at the time, new king, he says, all right,
don't do any evil. Go on home.
That's interesting. A bit of wisdom right
there. Okay, Chapter two.
Chapter two, David's charge to Solomon.
So in chapter two, David,
which David, the scripture says, is a man after God's
own heart. You all have read that? Yes. You agree?
Excellent. Not my opinion. David was
definitely a great man.
Not a very good husband and really not a good father.
Okay? It is what it is, okay? David,
his own son, he ran away from. I mean, if you all have not read
this again, stop binging off Netflix and open up your word.
Okay? It is very interesting.
He just ran away from his other son.
He didn't say anything to Adonijah when Adonijah was
doing things. But this time, he actually sits down, Solomon, and he talks
to him. That's a good thing. He talks to Solomon and he
tells Solomon, listen, you need to obey
God. You need to obey his decrees.
So he sits down and he gives him all this information. He also
tells him about some other people in his
group that may have not done well. And
so he tells him what he probably should do to them, too.
Like I said, you all like drama.
He's telling him to do away with some people,
but he says, hey, but you have wisdom.
Literally, David says, use wisdom. Okay,
so let's look at the word wisdom. Wisdom, the ability to
discern inner qualities and relationships. Insight
or good sense, judgment. So
before we continue on, I think it's important for us to really know what is
wisdom. What exactly is wisdom?
Okay, we're gonna go and we're gonna look at chapter
three. Chapter three is Solomon's wisdom.
So in chapter three, God comes to
Solomon and he asked him in a dream, he asked him,
asked him, what do you want?
Whatever you want, I'll give it to you.
Now, we've already read this, but I want you to look over that
briefly. What words jump out
to you that kind of give us a little bit of evidence
that Solomon was already walking in some wisdom.
Shout out to me, what do you see?
He first acknowledged God. Okay, thank you.
First sentence. Now, Lord of my God.
Lord my God. What else? Whose
servant? Your servant. Okay, your servant. What
else? Discerning heart. That's what he asked
for. Okay, acknowledged. He
was a child. Now, I don't know this for sure. But he was around
or about 15 to 20 years of age.
Okay? So let's give him the benefit of the doubt. He was
20,
20, becoming
the king. He was a baby,
right? I work with children the age of four.
Now, did you hear me? I said I work with children from the age of
4 to 18. Because when they come to me, I'm just like, you're a
kid. Even the ones that are 18 who think they are wrong,
like your brain is not even developed. How
do you son? 20. Oh, Lord Jesus. Stand
up. Go ahead, stand up. Come on, come on.
20. Right here. King,
right? Thank you so much, Michael. I appreciate you. You didn't know you came to
church for that, but I appreciate you. You got a mustache and everything.
20 years of age, okay? And the Lord
asked him, whatever you want,
whatever you want, I'll give it to
you. 20. And this
is how he responded. It seems to me that
Solomon already was walking on a path of wisdom.
Would you agree? Because he's asking
for things like, number one, acknowledging I'm just
a kid. I'm just a kid. I don't know what I'm doing.
I don't know what I need to do. And he says, your
people. He acknowledges, these are your
people. He acknowledges God for
who he is. And he acknowledges, I need help.
So I'm acknowledging I need help. I got a
microphone. I want somebody to read for me God's
response to this. Who wants to read? Who wants to read
today? Oh, that's so great. I love
it. Now, you do know he forgot I said I was an educator. He's
pointing to somebody else. So you know who I'm giving the microphone to.
He forgot. Here you go. Sweet bee. Come on, you got this. Come on.
Who, Levi. Come on, Levi. Stand up, Levi. Come on,
Levi. Yeah, there it is. There it is. Come on. Come
on, Levi. So this is King
Solomon's Prayer now, Levi. Oh, come on. Well, come on
up. That's what I'm talking about. Come on up,
Levi. All right, now, Levi, this is what you're going to do. You're going to
read God's request response. Now, it's lengthy,
okay? And I want you to read it with gusto. Can you do that for
me, Levi? Look alive, my
brother. You ready? Here we
go. Right there. Read that for me. You got it
with the microphone, sir. The Lord
was pleased that. Excuse me. Pardon me. Pardon me. I'm
so sorry. Excuse me. Levi, you're gonna have to do a lot better than that.
Okay? Okay, I need. The Lord was
pleased can you handle it? All right, here we go.
The Lord was pleased that Solomon.
Solomon. It's up there. You're good.
Had asked for this. You got it.
We're gonna do it together. So God said to him, come on,
come with me. Since you have asked for this and
not for long life or wealth for yourself,
come on with me. Nor have asked for the death
of your enemies, but for discernment and
administrating justice. Read the next part.
I will do what you have asked.
I will give you a
wise and discerning, discerning
heart. Good job. So that there
will never have been anyone like you,
nor will there ever
will there never be. Ladies and gentlemen,
Levi. That's great. That's great.
That's what I'm talking about.
Look at that. Look at that. Two people came to church and didn't know what
they were gonna do. But see, okay. Look at that. God
honored him. Honored him.
Because you asked for something that
was not for yourself. I'mma give it to you.
And extra.
I am going to give you wealth,
wisdom, life. Now, let's look at
the disclaimer. I will do what you've asked. I will give
you a wise and discerning. Oh, that's because I haven't gone on. Moreover,
There we go. I will give you what you have not asked for,
both wealth and honor, so that your lifetime,
you will have no equal among kings. Ha,
ha. And if you walk in obedience
to me and keep my decrees and commands,
as David, your father, did, I'll give you long
life. That's nice. That's
nice. The thing was, Solomon was already
on a path of wisdom.
And then God gave it all to him.
Let me go back. I'm not ready for chapter four just yet. In
chapter three, as soon as this happened, there was
a story. I'm gonna do it really quickly. I didn't do
it in the first service. I'm gonna do it in this service. There was a
story of two prostitutes, two women, okay? And
they came before the king. And one woman, woman
A, came before the king. And she said, king,
I had a baby. And this lady also
had a baby. Okay, I'm paraphrasing. Going very quickly.
We are in the same house. And at night, her
baby died. But when I was sleep, she
went and took my live baby and put my
live baby with her and took her dead baby and put it with.
When I woke up in the light of day and I saw my baby, I
realized it's not my baby. And I looked and I saw that she had my
baby. Well, they went to before him with the live baby. Two
women, one live baby. And she said, king,
this is not her kid. This is my baby.
So the king with all his new wisdom said, hmm,
Bring me the baby. Bring me
a sword. Slice that baby in half. That's what
he said. The woman who had the baby that was lasted. No, no,
no, no, no, no, no, no. Don't do it. Don't do it.
Give her the live baby. I'd rather the baby live.
The other lady said, slice them up. Give her
one side. Give me the other side. Now you
all, I'm sure we know
with that kind of wisdom which baby
was given or which mother got the baby.
What do you do? What do you do when you don't know? Now, I'm just
gonna tell you side story. Anybody who is a teacher, this is the kind
of wisdom you need to use in a classroom. It's called the wisdom from the
lord. You have two people coming to you. Ms. Coble, she did
this. Ms. Coble. I don't know. I wasn't there. So I said, jesus,
you're gonna have to help me right now.
Cause I need wisdom. I wasn't there. And guess what? He does it every
time.
That's the kind of wisdom that King Solomon had.
Chapter four, Solomon's officials and governors.
In that chapter, it speaks about who is under the
tribes. Just so you know, there were many, many kings of
Israel, but only three of them were able to have all of
the 12 tribes under them. That was Saul, David and
Solomon, which you'll find out a little bit what happens to Solomon's
son. But this was a big deal that you could have all of the tribes
under the same government or king,
and they were all in harmony as well.
And then this chapter goes on to talk about the officials, the
governors, all of that in the tribe of
Israel. Chapter five, preparation
of the building of the temple. And so again,
y' all gotta open up your Bible and read. Okay? I need you to read,
you know, about. Well, why was there a temple needed? Well, that's in the Bible.
Again, put down Netflix, bring up the word. But it
tells you about all of this. So in this chapter, there is
preparation. They're business deals that are going on, bottom line.
Okay. And if Solomon is the wisest man, how do you think those
business deals are going? Pretty good. He was a great
entrepreneur. So in this chapter, that's what's going
on. And then in chapter six, Solomon actually builds the
temple. Okay? Now this temple took about
seven years to build. But it was fabulous.
Again, details. Everything is always in the details. It's in the scripture. It
talks to you all about it all what is actually built, how it's
built, all that good stuff. Okay, chapter seven.
Solomon builds his palace. Now, interesting enough,
the temple took seven years. The palace took 13.
I'm just going to leave that where it is.
13 years, he built his own palace. Okay,
so chapter five. I'm not gonna
go back. Seven talks about the palace. All right, here we go.
Chapter 8. The Ark is brought to the temple.
Now, this is a big deal. The Ark is brought to the temple.
And this is
solely the reason why. The temple or the. Yes, the temple
was built. The king, he summons in all his elders.
The heads of the tribes, the priests, the chief.
Everybody comes and he dedicates the
temple. Okay? In First King
8, 54, 56 is what we're about to read. But I
want to read or I'm about to read to you. 54. When Solomon had
finished all these prayers, because he prayed over, he
dedicated it and supplications to the Lord. He
rose from before altar of the Lord
where he had been kneeling with his hands spread
out toward heaven. He stood and blessed the whole
assembly of Israel in a loud voice. I need
a little bit of help. Who wants to read this next one?
Did you raise your hand? Yes, you did.
Yes, you did. I love you, Ben Dudley. Of course you
did. And I know you'll read it with all the gusto. Here
we go. You got it.
Praise be to the Lord, who has given rest to his people
Israel, just as he promised. Not one word
has failed. Of all the good promises he gave through his servant
Moses. May the Lord our God be with us
as he was with our ancestors. May he never leave us
nor forsake us. May he turn our hearts to him, to walk
in obedience to him and keep the commands, decrees
and laws he gave our ancestors. And may these words
of mine, which I have prayed before the Lord be near
to the Lord our God day and night, that he may
uphold the cause of his servant and the cause of his people,
Israel, according to each day's need, so
that all the peoples of the earth may know that the Lord
is God and that there is no other. And
may your hearts be fully committed to the Lord our God,
to live by his decrees and obey his
commands as at this time. Thank you so
very much.
He actually reads it. Different accents as well.
I know you did. So he prays
over the temple. And
in chapter nine, Solomon's greatness And downfall?
We're about to find out. So first, King
9:3:9. Jesus comes as
second. Not Jesus. God comes to him a second
time, just like he did before. And he says, I heard
your prayer. He consecrates the temple,
and then he gives Solomon and his sons a warning
again. You need to read it. Go back and
make sure you do that. After that, Solomon's
other activities happen. In this chapter,
more business deals. Okay. And then
Solomon's wife, Pharaoh's daughter.
An intermarriage among royal families which
was common, but not God's plan.
Interesting. Who remembers Pharaoh?
Interesting name to come up, especially for
Solomon to marry the daughter.
Place that in your head somewhere. We're going to come back to it.
Chapter 10. Queen Sheba visits Solomon
and Solomon's Splendor. We
talked a little bit about the wisdom of King
Solomon. What I gave to you about those two women,
that was a small portion. Solomon could
do riddles. People would come all over
just to hear him speak or to give
wisdom. This was a big deal. Queen Sheba was one
of those who came. She was a big deal. And she came to visit him
to see is this man everything that everybody says
he is. And sure enough, she found out that he was.
In 1 Kings 10, 23, 25. King Solomon was
greater in riches and wisdom than all the other kings of the earth.
The whole world sought audience with Solomon to hear
the wisdom God had put in his heart. Year after
year, everyone who came brought a gift. Articles of
silver and gold, robes, weapons and spice
and horses and mules. He was the richest man
on earth. Period. In 27, it says,
the king made silver as common in Jerusalem
as stones. Right.
We're talking about. Very interesting, wise,
rich man. And then we have
chapter 11, however.
Chapter 11, now you may say vonda. Why
would you put however in front of it? Well, guess what? I did it.
First Kings 11. 1. The first verse says, King
Solomon, however, loved many foreign
women besides Pharaoh's daughter.
I didn't make it up. Just for the record, too. Just so you
know, I'm a very opinionated woman. But I need you to know
that this is the word of God. That's why I'm showing
so much word, because I have an opinion. And I'm
gonna say, I have an opinion, but it means nothing. My
opinion means nothing. God's word, on the other hand,
is everything. So I want you to see my
opinions fall. But his word stands strong.
King Solomon and his disobedience
is what happens first.
King Solomon married many foreign women.
And it is stated in 1st Kings 3:1, which.
Remember, I told you to put that. Now let's bring it back out.
Solomon made an alliance with Pharaoh, king of
Egypt, and married his daughter. He built
altars for his foreign wives. You
all. Solomon had 700 wives. Now lookie here.
My husband is here. He wasn't in first service, but he's in this service.
And I believe when he sees the Lord face to face,
he may say to the Lord, you do know Vonda was a lot?
I said he may. I don't know, but I just wonder.
Hey, Bae, do you want 700 vondas?
Oh, he's such a handsome fella. He did his head
slowly, like this. No.
Do you want 700 wives? Let me ask your twin.
Do you want 700 wives? No. Okay. We
haven't even talked about the 300 consciousness.
That's why I said however. Solomon
was very wise.
However.
First Kings 11, 9, 13.
Curt, you want to do some reading for me? Of course he would.
You don't have to stand. You can do whatever you want to do. The
Lord became angry with Solomon because his heart had turned away from the
Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice.
Although he had forbidden Solomon to follow other gods,
Solomon did not keep the Lord's command. So the Lord said to
Solomon, since this is your attitude, and you have not
kept my covenant and my decrees, which I commanded you,
I will most certainly tear the kingdom away from you and give it to
one of your subordinates. Nevertheless, for the sake
of David, your father, I will not do it. During your lifetime,
I will tear it out of the hand of your son.
Yet I will not tear the whole kingdom from him, but will give him
one tribe. For the sake of David, my servant, and for the sake of
Jerusalem, which I have chosen.
However, continues. Solomon now has
adversaries. Thank you so much, Curt. In First Kings
11:14, then the Lord raised up against Solomon.
Adversaries. I'm so sorry. I didn't put adversaries. But it's in there.
You're more than welcome to look in your Bible. Always test the person who's bringing
the word. First Kings 11:23.
And God raised up against Solomon another adversary.
And then Jeroboam. Jeroboam. Am I saying it?
Jeroboam. Jeroboam
rebels against Solomon. In 1st Kings 26,
also Jeroboam, son of Nebat, rebelled
against the king. He was one of Solomon's officials
and number three. Then Solomon's death. First Kings 11:42,
43. Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all
Israel. 40 years. Then he rested with
his ancestors and was buried in the city of
David, his father. And
Rehoboam, I think
his son succeeded him as king.
You all. King Solomon. He wrote three books of the Bible.
Proverbs, Ecclesiastics and Songs of Solomon.
Proverbs. Interesting enough. The purpose of it is to
teach people how to attain wisdom, discipline and a
prudent life. To apply divine wisdom to
daily life. Moral instructions.
Ecclesiastics was written to spare future
generations the bitterness of learning through their
own experience that life is meaningless apart
from God. Songs of Solomon to
tell of a love between a bridegroom and his bride.
Now, y' all, he had experience,
I'm just saying, to affirm
the sanctity of marriage and.
And to picture God's love for his people.
King Solomon, yes, he was the wisest man. He did have
a. However. But he also wrote
books because he learned. Life sometimes
is about learning. And I have a saying.
It's not from the Bible, it's from Vonda. When you know better, you
should do better. Now, I used to say, when you know better, you do
better. And then I started living
and I said, you should. Well,
King Solomon did. And what he wanted us
to know was you don't have to live off of your own
experiences. You can live off of others experience. Experience. If you read
Ecclesiastics, he says over and over and over, and this is meaningless.
And if you try to do this and you try to do this and you
try to do that, it's meaningless, it means nothing. The whole book,
he's pretty much saying, if you don't have God,
meaningless.
Lessons from the life of King Solomon. Here we are. Here we are,
people. King Solomon lived.
He died. He was rich. He had many
things. What can we learn
from this young man?
Number one. Solomon asked for something
that would serve others and not himself.
We need the Holy Spirit less of me and more of you.
Sometimes people say things as a cliche. When you say this, mean
it. The goal
is to be like Jesus Christ. The
goal is to be like Jesus Christ.
The goal is to be like
Jesus Christ. Now, I like Vonda. I think I should.
But the goal is not for me to be like Vonda.
The goal is for Vonda to be transformed
into Jesus Christ.
But I am only a child and I do not know
how to carry out my duties. So give your
servant a discerning heart, to govern your people and to
distinguish between right and wrong. I have two things
I want to say about that.
I am so Sorry to have to tell you all this.
You don't know everything.
What you know is small
compared to God the Father, God the Son and
God the Holy Spirit. This
young man was talking about, help me to be able to serve the people.
But can I tell you that your duties
are everyday living. We
don't know how to love people. You think you
do. That's fine. Then you get
tested and you find out
I didn't know. You don't know
how to be kind. All of these things, they don't come
naturally to us. We are human beings
now. Thank God. We are more important than dogs.
So sorry. I know you got a dog. We are
more important than cats. But we don't
know anything. And we do not know between
right and wrong unless
we have a standard. Because I need you
to know you're right and you're wrong. If it does not
compare to this, it's not right and it's not wrong.
You do not know. Again,
I'm sorry to tell you, but you don't.
And I'm talking to Vonda. There are times
where I feel like I have done the right thing. Especially
because I need to tell them how I feel. And they need to know
because I'm right. And the Lord says, no, you're not. Sit down.
And then there are tons of things that happen to me and Micah.
They're not good, they are bad. And let me tell you why they're bad.
Because I'm crying over it. And they are bad. And the Lord says, no, no,
baby girl, that was good for you.
We do not know right from
wrong unless you have a standard. And
the standard is not you. As handsome as you
are, it's not you. I say that because I know
your wife and I, you know, you forget I hooked y' all up. Do you
remember that? Okay. Anyway.
Anyway. We don't know. We need the
Holy Spirit. Oh, I see the people that tells me. I gotta go.
Lesson 2. Obedience is better than sacrifice.
I don't really have to go into that. I did a little bit during first
service, but because I see them, that lets me know I gotta go. You just
gonna have to trust me.
Thank you. They said, trust him.
Lesson 3. Your actions affect generations.
I'm just going to read the word. I'm not going to give you my opinion.
I'm going to read the word. Nevertheless, for
the sake of David, your father, I will not do
it. During your lifetime, I will tear it out of the hand of
your son, yet I will not tear the whole kingdom
from him. But will give him one
tribe. For the sake of David, my
servant, and for the sake of Jerusalem, which I have
chosen parents. And that's everybody in here who plans to
have kids. What you do affects generations.
It's just not about you.
You need to know that.
Fourth one, however,
blind sides. All of us have
blind sides.
Hence the word blind,
the side away from which one is looking.
Here's the thing. The Lord will
reveal it to you. He can reveal it to you
through his word. He can also reveal it to you through other
people. So we should be very
cautious who we allow in our circles.
Number one, it's got to be people who love you. And
people who love you will actually show you your blind side.
Hence the word blind side.
You see, if before I came to the the Lord, I cursed a lot,
okay? And now I'm with the Lord, and words come
out every now and then. That ain't blind to me. I know.
I'm talking about things that you don't even know
are inside of you. Hence the word blind
side. So I want to encourage you
all two things. One,
I said, be careful who you put around you. Right?
People who love you will actually show you your blind side.
Now, I need you to know this. Hear me. It's going to hurt
when you hear it, because you didn't know
it was there.
But if they love you, receive
what they have to say. Bring it before the Lord.
There are people who relationships have ended because a
blind side was revealed. Now listen,
this is true for me. If I feel like someone has hurt me, I
will slowly back away from them. Just
slowly back away. And I actually did that a couple of
weeks ago. The Lord shows showed me because someone who loved me
showed me my blind side. And it hit me hard
because I knew my intentions. I didn't think that was actually
happening. No, Lord, that's not me. And the Lord said,
yes, it is. It's a
blind side. And so do you know what I
did? I surrendered
and said, I hear you, Jesus. And then
I went to that person and I said, I'm
sorry
because I slowly came away.
Because you loved me.
I want to encourage you.
If that has happened to you. Reconcile.
The Lord can reconcile relationships
because this is who God is. I read something
and I thought, God, I so love you.
In Psalms 103, 13, it says,
As a father has compassion on his children,
so the Lord has compassion.
I'm so sorry. Because I got teary. I can't see the words.
Let me go ahead and put on my glasses.
So the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him.
For he knows how we
are formed. He
remembers that we are dust.
And I thought, God, thank you so much.
You see, when the blind side was revealed to me, it hurt me.
And then it hurt me because I thought, oh, God,
I'm just trying to do the best I can.
But he said, vonda, I love you.
I saw called the blind side. That doesn't change
my love for you. I
revealed it to you so you could surrender it to me.
You see, less of him or me. Thank you, Lord.
Less of me and more of him. And
that night when I cried, because I cried, I cried. Like
I cried, it hurt. I heard the
Holy Spirit say, vonda, this
is you becoming more like me.
You see, we don't show up like Jesus, like the
Amazon package. He works it
out of us.
This was not the pastor and I talking. I
thought it was so interesting how he had exactly
what the Lord wanted to end today with at the
beginning. Stand to your feet. Trust in the Lord
with all your heart. Lean not on
your own understanding. In all
your ways, submit to Him. Him and he will
make your paths straight. We
need the Holy Spirit.
If you don't know the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal savior
today, I got good news for you. You got
access to Him. If you are going to pray this
morning, would you go ahead and head up for me or come
down for me?
If you have already
given your life to the Lord, your name is written in the Lamb's book of
life. But you
need more of him and less
of you. You're welcome to the altar as well.
The altar is here for you because you have
access to God for whatever.
So I just want to encourage you as we worship,
trust in Him. Not the outcome,
but trust in Him.