Solomon Asks for Wisdom

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.

1 Kings 1 · chapter mention

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

1 Kings 11:14

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.

1 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,

1 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.