Navigating with Wisdom | Pastor Loren Covarrubias

Well, the first scripture I'm going to read is actually a

description of this, which some call the menorah, but is the

golden Candlestick according to the scriptures.

It says you shall also make a lamp stand of pure gold.

The lamp stand shall be of hammered work.

A shaft, its branches, its foals, its ornamental knobs and

flowers shall be in one piece. All six branches shall come out

of its size. 3 branches of the lampstand out of one side and 3

branches of the lampstand out of the other side.

Now in the class that I'm writing for the fall, I want to

talk about this for a minute because it's where the Lord has

me right now in looking at all the history of Mount Zion and my

walk with the Lord. Because I believe the Bible is a

book about Jesus walking with his people to the place that He

has called us to. It's a very long story.

I talk it about in my book about the eternal purpose, because God

has always had a purpose. God will fulfill his purpose

because no purposes of God's can be withheld from him.

But also he has had fellowship with his people to make all

these things come to pass. And so it's very important for

us to recognize this. That's why when Jesus was

speaking to the people who were rejecting him as the Messiah, he

said you search the Scriptures for in them you seek for eternal

life. But they also talk about me.

And unfortunately, so oftentimes we approach the Bible to look at

it and say what's in it for me kind of.

And then in that case, miss the primary focus that God wants us

to have. Oftentimes Christians do that

today because we're always teaching people about

Christianity being about how to get to heaven and how to get

saved. And that's a component of our

message, no question about it. But in reality, it's about being

reconciled to God, having a relationship with God, and then

walking with God in this earth. I'm glad I'm on a journey with

Jesus Christ. Amen.

Church, Jesus said to his disciples, if you want to be one

of my disciples, you have to deny yourself.

Take up your cross and follow me.

Now, if you just read that scripture from the discipleship

perspective, you think it means behave, you're going to have

some problems, but just keep following.

But really, when they followed Jesus, they walked with him as

well. It wasn't like they were always

behind him. He talked with them, He

encouraged them, He instructed them, and that's the same kind

of relationship God wants to have with us.

He wants us to go on a journey with him.

And so I love the journey. I've been on this journey a long

time and I tell you it just gets better and better to walk with

God and experience the goodness of the Lord in your life.

Today I wanted to put this image in front of you because I think

it's very good to have a image in front of us when we're

talking about something. They say a picture paints 1000

words, at least in a song. But in thinking about that, it's

important for us to have visuals from time to time in order for

us to think about what exactly it is that the Lord is speaking

to us. And I read to you a scripture

out of the book of Exodus. When the children of Israel were

walking with God, he told Moses to instruct them how to worship

him. And so Moses had built a

Tabernacle. There were three courts to it.

An outer court where people would come and bring their

sacrifices and offerings to God. An inner court where the priest

would go and minister to the Lord.

And then the Most Holy Place, where once a year the high

priest would go in and make atonement for the sins of the

people. But in the holy place there was

this thing called the golden Candlestick or golden lampstand

that God told them to build. And of course, the tent as they

constructed a beginning in the days of Moses.

And also the Tabernacle, as you go into the presence of the Lord

in the inner court, there wasn't natural light shining through a

window or anything like that. You needed a lamp, you need a

light. And this is exactly the light

that the Lord had for them, and He did it for a very specific

reason that He could teach them, something that He could build on

in history as He's done with the Bible and showing us some things

that are still at work in the earth today.

But keep in mind, God wants us to walk in the light.

How many know we need to walk in the light of the Word of God?

Amen. We have to hide the word of God

in our heart, the Bible says, and walk in the light of the

Word that He has for us. So this light is very important.

And I put here a Candlestick plus 6 because if you notice,

there's a main shaft going through the middle and then out

of it come these other branches all together, 7 but flowing from

the first branch or the main stem immediately.

Now the reason this is important to understand is it's also

spoken of all the way to the end of the Bible in the book of the

Revelation. Remember, the book of the

Revelation is when the Lord comes to the apostle John and he

says, John, I want you to come and I'm going to begin to show

you some things. And we call it the Revelation,

but the full name is it is a revelation of Jesus Christ.

And so as he saw the revelation of Jesus Christ, he saw some

awesome things that are really images for us to see today in

here in chapters four and five, I picked 2 verses where he

actually goes to the throne room of heaven.

And these are the things that he saw in his vision.

First of all, chapter 4, says Him, from the throne, which is

the seed of God's authority, came lightnings, thunders,

voices, and seven lamps of fire were burning before the throne,

which are the seven spirits of God.

Going into chapter 5, he says, And I looked, and behold, in the

midst of the throne of the four living creatures, and the midst

of the elders, stood a lamb, as though it had been slain.

In this case, having 7 horns and seven eyes, which are the seven

spirits of God sent out into all the earth.

Now of course, if you were just to read the Book of Revelation,

you might say, oh, God has seven spirits.

No, we know from reading the entire account of the Bible that

God has revealed Himself, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

We don't have 7 spirits, but we will see here how there's seven

aspects of our relationship to the Holy Spirit that God wants

us to know about. But the word 7 in the Scriptures

is symbolic of completion. First example of that, in the

book of Genesis, the Lord spent six days, created the heavens

and earth, and on the 7th day he rested.

And so when you read through the Bible, there are many references

to the #7 speaking about completion.

And our New Beginnings class, our foundation classes, we

talked about the six foundation stones and then going on to

maturity, the same kind of a concept there that God wants us

to understand and the completion.

And that's what Word 7 talks about here.

So he's not talking about literally 7 different spirits,

but the fact that the Holy Spirit is a sevenfold spirit in

operation for each and everyone of us.

And if you notice that Jesus Christ and I, again, we have to

know the Holy Spirit is the presence of Jesus coming upon

us. Because Jesus said I'm going to

go away, but I'm going to come again.

And when I come, you're not going to be orphans, but I'm

going to come and we're going to come and live inside of you

speaking about himself and the Father.

But the important thing that we see here is how the Lamb who's

sitting upon the throne has seven horns and seven eyes.

The horns always represent power.

So how many know Jesus has complete power?

The Bible says at the name of Jesus Christ, every knee shall

bow and every tongue shall confess, because Jesus Christ is

Lord to the glory of the Father. But it also tells us in Hebrews

Hebrews 2 · chapter mention

chapter 2 that we don't see literally everything under him

because God's been working in this process.

And it's important for us to understand we're involved in

that process. But all power is in the throne

and spread out to the nations. But I want to emphasize today

about the seven eyes because Jesus had full spiritual

perception, which is really in fact what He wants each and

every one of us to experience it.

How do I know? Well, we'll go now to the book

of Isaiah, Chapter 11. There shall come forth a rod

Isaiah 11 · chapter mention

from the stem of Jesse, and her branch shall grow out of his

roots. The Spirit of the Lord shall

rest upon him, speaking about the anointing that was upon

Jesus Christ, and then describing as it talks about the

things that come out of it. It is a spirit of wisdom, is a

spirit of understanding. It is a spirit of counsel and

might, the spirit of knowledge, and of what the fear of the

Lord. His delight is in the fear of

the Lord, and he shall not judge by the sight of his eyes, nor

decide by the hearing of his ears.

Now when Jesus Christ was here on the earth, how many know that

was the manifestation of God's perfect wisdom?

Everything that God had was embodied in Christ.

He was the visible image of the invisible God, and wisdom was a

part of His walk and work here on the earth.

And so in Him we see the perfect completion of wisdom.

And so we experienced that. And it's something that God

wants us all to experience as a part of the Pentecostal

movement. We used to always talk about

being baptized in the Holy Spirit and quoting.

And you shall receive power after that.

The Holy Ghost has come upon you.

And the word power there speaks of from a Greek word, dunamis,

which is kind of like dynamite. And so we would basically say,

hey, you can have some dynamite power from God.

And that is true. Amen, Sir.

But we thought of it in terms of power.

So we think about, well, the Holy Spirit gives us miraculous

abilities, but we don't notice oftentimes that when we think

about the Holy Spirit, we should also think about it as the

source of what knowledge, understanding and wisdom.

Knowledge is information, or facts, if you would.

Understanding is the ability to see those things and have a

comprehension of them. And wisdom really speaks about

the application of those things that we know.

And so these are all a part of the things that God wants us to

have. And with God himself, through

the Holy Spirit, how many are we going to have a spirit of

counsel from him? I know when I'm in prayer, I'm

always talking to God about things that are concerning to me

about myself, the church, or people's lives.

And I know that the Lord, through the Holy Spirit,

counsels with me. And I thank the Lord for that.

And I'm also thankful that God equips us to be a counselor in

the world in which we Live Today, because the church needs

to be a counselor to the world. Amen Church.

And then of course it talks about the fear of the Lord as a

part of that because the Bible says that the fear of the Lord

is what the beginning of wisdom. And there is might in that which

speaks about the fullness. And so when I see this golden

Candlestick, I see how in the very beginning God starting a

process of making us understand his eternal purpose.

And that is, I want my people to know I give light and I want

them to walk in that light. I want them to receive that

light, and then I want them to become children of the light.

Can you say Amen to that? So God is calling us to a whole

new dimension in him. I believe this is a time of

transition in the world. I've been reading about history

all my life and I'm like, looking at what's happening now,

I'm like, wow, it's obvious this is a time of transition.

I can see it both in the church and I can see it in the world in

which we live. And I can see it in the way

people are responding because change is not the easy thing for

people to have to face. That's why they say the teens

were the greatest difficult part of your life for most people

because that's when you went through the most change because

it was physical as well as the circumstances of your life.

But we have to understand that change is a normal part of God's

process and working with planet earth, if you would.

And he not only wants us to be able to embrace change, but he

wants us to be catalyst for change.

Amen, Church. And so this is such an important

time that God is calling us to a new level in him, and we have to

understand that there is a perfect wisdom that he wants us

to walk in and be a full partaker of.

Now, what I want to talk to you about today is the difference

between spiritual perception versus prophetic insight.

Now, as I share with you the things that God has taught us

over the years and what we went through as a church, always keep

in mind that when I'm repeating these things to you, there's a

very good chance that in my time of prayer, the Lord was

repeating it to me, counseling with me so that I could look

back and see what I've experienced, where I am today

and where it is that He's taken us.

And one of the stories that often shares, around 1980, as a

church, we were getting ready to get a mortgage on our church,

and we were ending up the 1970s, if you would.

Our church actually started in 1978.

In the 1970s. It was a very difficult time

financially or economically, if you would.

Prevailing as a description of the times was a word called

stagflation, which means we had inflation, but the economy

wasn't growing. So it was stag inflation if you

would. Usually when you have inflation,

it's because things are growing or vice versa.

But this was an odd time that we went through.

I, as a kid worked in a grocery store.

We used to make changes on prices there in the early 70s.

First of all we had a whole day, then it was every day and some

things we had to change quite frequently because inflation was

such an unusual thing. And then also, as we were

preparing our church, we were starting our change at a time of

great financial struggle. Now, at the time, I wasn't that

aware of economics and stuff. It wasn't an extreme interest

for myself if you would, but I had to face some realities when

we went to the bank and they said, well, we can give you a

mortgage, but the interest rate is 21 1/2%.

How many of that's mind boggling to think about.

Now people are complaining about home mortgages because they're

almost 7%. When I bought my first house, I

was all excited because the interest rate went down to 11

1/2 percent. It had been 14 times sure have

changed and it's important for us to understand that there's

times of economic distress, there's good times, bad times,

whatever. In the journey of life, all

kinds of things are going to happen.

And when looking at the world those days, most of the experts,

because I certainly did watch the news, we're talking about

the fact that we were in a very difficult time.

And there was this idea that we were on a trek downward, if you

would. Japan was the major power and

competition with us at that time.

And everybody thought, wow, look at Japan.

Look how they manufacture, look what they do.

And all the sudden it seemed like they were the rising star

of the East, if you would. And everybody was talking about

how the United States was going down hill.

And I remember then as well that most of the Bible prophets, if

you'd call that scriptural prophet, says Bible prophecy.

People were always looking for bad things to happen because

that was the sign of the end. And they were sure Jesus was

going to come because things were so bad.

But when I prayed, the Lord spoke to me and said, don't

listen to the voices because they're all kinds of voices

saying all kinds of different things.

You need to understand I'm sending the time of great

prosperity upon the land. And I want you to be prepared

for the time of prosperity. But I also want you to know it's

going to be just like it was in the days of Solomon.

And in that time he began to speak and say now you need to be

prepared because when this time of blessing comes, it would be

like in Solomons day. He was a man of great wisdom.

So the Lords, like the church needs to be a place of wisdom.

And I literally have all these things in the very first book I

wrote going back to 1991 about the house being a House of

wisdom and what God has for us as people.

But it was so important to understand that as well in

thinking of Solomon, as we'll read today, and I also read to

you in the opening Scriptures, Solomon with all the blessing he

had, he fell from grace with the Lord.

Now God talked to me about this prosperity in the late 1990s.

He said, I want you to know this is the Lucene of the four

horsemen of Revelation. There's going to be a time of

shaking. It's going to shake because

everything that can be shaken is going to be shaken.

He said about a year to know that.

And this is what you're to tell the people basically, which I

have been. Don't look at things to fall

apart. It's going to be shaken.

So we have to be strong, but don't look for things to fall

apart at that point in time. And so since that time, why I

wanted to share first, the very first week He gave me that on a

Monday, our stock market dropped the highest level in many, many

years. Everybody is all upset about it.

But by Friday that week had it come back and the Lord spoke to

me and He said no, That's what I want you to look at as a picture

of what it's going to be like shaking, seemingly falling, but

always put back together again. And that's been kind of like the

premise of the last 25 years. There was a very big tech of

fall downfall, if you would, in the stock market, around 2076%

of its value because everybody was investing.

It's kind of like it is today a bubble because everybody's

excited now about AI. Back then it was about the

Internet, the possibilities that were involved there.

It it, it was a difficult time, but guess what we've recovered.

There was the 9/11, 2001 disaster that was a shaking

economically and O seven O 8. They called it the Great

Recession. They said it was the worst time

since we had since the Great Depression.

So we've had a lot of shakings, but how many know we recover and

quite quickly actually, when you look at it from a historical

basis. Now, one of the reasons we have

recovered, fulfilling that second prophecy is because of

the government has taken a very activist role.

Whether it's Congress or whether it's the Federal Reserve or

whatever. There's somebody trying to

manage all this by printing money, expanding the money

supply, if you would, or sometimes lowering the interest

rate to make it easier to buy and to keep things.

And during O seven O 8, they were a lot of different

companies that were going bankrupt and the girl rescued a

lot of them. There were certain ones they let

fall apart. And that's a part of the shaking

time as the governments getting more power and they're deciding

oftentimes who's going to succeed and who's going to fall.

And so when I look at all the things that are happening now,

I'm thinking, Lord, this has to end.

This has to end. Because to me, when I look at

the increase of government power and I see irresponsible

finances, I think, oh, it's all going to fall apart.

So I was actually praying quite a bit in recent years.

Lord, is there another word I'm supposed to get now?

Because things don't look good. I'm sure everything's going to

fall apart or something. And that's when the Lord began

to speak to me what I'm going to share with you today.

And that is I don't want to people that know ahead of time

what's going to happen so they can prepare for it.

I want to be a have a people who can respond to every situation

that comes their way. So it isn't about what you know

is going to happen. It's how you going to handle

where you are right now. That's the difference between a

spiritual perception and prophetic insight.

And when I share with you how this is a part of my process as

well. I have a YouTube site where I

talk about prophetic insight. And that's when the Lord said,

now you're getting ready and I have you ready to begin to

launch in a whole new level. But I want you to change that

name to spiritual procession because the Bible says he that

is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is judged by no

one. That's in the book of First

Corinthians. And so the Lord said we need a

people who have spiritual perception in the earth, not a

people who feel their security about knowing what's going to

happen, because how many know? Everybody's trying to tell you

what's going to happen. People are saying buy gold, the

money's not going to be having any value or better than that,

buy Bitcoin or some of the kind of currency.

Everybody's come up with ideas. But I have a word from the Lord,

and that is give me the ability to teach you and give you

wisdom. It doesn't matter what situation

is in front of you, you're going to know how to navigate it, says

the mighty God. Give the Lord a praise on that.

And the truth is that's our testimony as a local church.

In our 47 years, we've never had a crisis financially.

We've always weathered the storm.

If you would. I talk about the storms and I

know people that we've ministered to this, excuse me,

have been impacted by the storms.

But we have to understand that in all of these things, our God

is faithful all the time. And that's why I love being on a

journey with him because I like to look back and say, God,

that's amazing how you work that out.

And then I can look to the future and say, God, I know

that's going to be amazing how you're going to work things out.

Amen. Church, we serve a living God.

In First Corinthians chapter 1, verses 19 and 20, it does say

1 Corinthians 1:19

this. For it is written, I will

destroy the wisdom of the wise and bring to nothing the

understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise, Where is the

scribe, and where is the disputer of this age?

Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?

You can be sure that all the wisdom of this world is going to

be challenged. That's why we've got to be

prepared to understand and also to walk not in the world's

wisdom, but God's wisdom church. And it's so easy for us to walk

in the wisdom of the world or to think, well, this is what God

says. So this is what I do as a

Christian or when I go to church.

And this is everyday life. Now the Lord says every day I'm

going to walk with you, says the mighty God.

And as you allow me to give you wisdom, says the Lord, you will

be able to navigate the waters even when the wisdom of this

world is being challenged. You will be able to walk in

godly wisdom and say to the world, God is able to take care

of his people, Amen. Because we're planted on the

rock, Christ Jesus. Amen.

Jesus said if you're on the rock, and this is how he

described himself to his disciples, if you follow these

principles that I'm telling you about, when the storms come and

the winds are blowing, you're going to be able to stand on the

rock and not be shaken. But if you're not following the

principles, when the storm comes, it's going to be like you

built your house on the sand and when the winds are blowing, the

storms are raging, you're going to fall with the wind.

So God is challenging us to understand how powerful His word

is and how wonderful His word can be to us when we have that

confidence in Him and understand the full manner of wisdom He's

called us to. Now going back to our story, it

says that Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream

by night and said, Ask what shall I give you?

Now, O Lord my God, You have made your servant king, and said

of my father David, but I'm a little child, do not know how to

go out or come in. And your servant is in the midst

of your people, whom you have chosen, a great people too

numerous to be numbered or counted.

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?

Can you imagine God appearing to you and saying, ask, what do you

want? How many of you know you'd have

a lot of thoughts on that one? Lord, just give me the Super

Bowl lottery of a billion bucks and I'll be taken care of.

Lord, just do this and this will happen.

I'll be OK. But Solomon, when he has this

opportunity to get something from God, he's not thinking

about himself. He's thinking about the

responsibility that he has for the people of God because he's

made a king. His father, David was a great

king, very beloved by the people of God.

And he's looking at David, his father, and he's looking at the

tacit in front of me. And so when the Lord says, ask

for something, he says, Lord, I want you to give me an

understanding heart in order that when people come to me and

I'm facing the issues of life, I'll know exactly what to do.

And I think it's so important that we would understand that

true wisdom does indeed come from the heart, Amen.

And Solomon had the right heart before the Lord.

And because of that, when God gave him an opportunity, he

asked, I believe with all my heart, God's bringing the church

into a new level of authority in prayer.

But we're got to be mature in our place in order for us to be

given that kind of blessing. Amen, Church.

And so God says, get ready by preparing yourself to walk in

wisdom and have an understanding heart, says the mighty God.

So God gave Solomon wisdom, exceeding great understanding

and largeness of heart. Like the sand on the seashore,

the Solomon's wisdom excel the wisdom of all the into the east

and all the wisdom of Egypt. For he was wiser than all men

and men of all nations from all kings of earth who had heard of

his wisdom, came to hear the wisdom of Solomon.

Wow, what a blessings God's gift was.

He gets wisdom and the Bible says he also had largeness of

heart, not just understanding of heart.

So he's very generous. You can see, like the queen of

Sheba, she comes and sees all the things that Solomon has

built. And the Bible says she literally

fainted when she saw how perfectly everything operated in

the administration of his authority.

And yet she brought gifts. But guess what?

Then he gave her gifts back because he's like, you're not

going to outgive me. I'm going to give back to you.

So he was a man of wisdom. He was a man of generosity.

And it was something that this Scripture tells us was

recognized by all the nations of the earth.

Kings and leaders were coming because they're like, we got to

find out what's happening there in Israel.

I'm sure most of them didn't give the credit to God, but

Solomon would have had the responsibility to tell him just

that. But what was followed and

received of God actually became a demonstrated wisdom that the

world could see. And I believe that's what God

has in store for His church. That's why I'm still as

committed as I ever was to Isaiah 2.

In the latter days of time, the mountain of the Lord's house

shall be established on top of the mountains, exalted above the

hills. People are going to say, come

and let us go to the mountain of the Lord, to the House of the

God of Jacob. He will teach us of His ways.

We will walk in His path. For out of Mount Zion shall go

the law, because we saw what those people have experienced in

God. And we want that church.

We're going to see a great harvest in this day, man.

Unfortunately, For it was so when Solomon was old that his

wifes turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was

not loyal to the Lord his God, as was the heart of his father

David. For Solomon went after Asterisk,

the goddesses, said Nonians, and after Milkham the abomination of

the Ammonites. Solomon did evil in the sight of

God and did not follow the Lord as did his father David.

And again, this is the story that God brought to my

remembrance way back when. He said just be careful.

In the days of prosperity, there will also be a time of wisdom.

The world's going to have its wisdom and knowledge.

And with AI, it's going to be mind boggling.

I'm just amazed at some of the things that you can accomplish

with artificial intelligence. But I also know that God says

I'm going to do something in the church that's going to parallel

and be a light to that says the mighty God, and you're going to

see what I'm going to do because God's going to show his glory

through his people in this day. And that's why we are committing

ourselves fully to the vision. And I'm so grateful that God has

given me the opportunity to walk in this journey and to learn

these things so that I can impart them to this next

generation because I believe with all my heart, God's raising

up the generation of Jacob, the generation that's going to seek

him. And that's what they're saying

in all the reports. If you read them, they're saying

something's happening in the younger generation.

There's a hunger for God. And for so many years they were

talking about declining church attendance and declining

interest in God. And now they're starting notice.

Wow, something's changing. How many know gods at work right

now in the earth? Amen.

Cherish. Unfortunately, he had a failure

in the secret place. And that's why I mentioned here

because I was praying about that.

I'm like, Lord, how could somebody with Solomon, he was

the smartest guy in planet Earth.

How can he turn from you? That's not too smart.

That doesn't demonstrate a lot of wisdom.

And it's mind boggling to me. And that's when the Lord spoke

to me and he said, well, Lauren, basically he fell into the same

thing. That's very common in the human

experience. And that is it's very easy to

have a public life and yet not match it in your private life.

And you can see that all through the world.

A lot of times, you know, growing up out here, people say,

oh, Christians are hypocrites. We live in a world of

hypocrites. Amen.

What do I mean? Well, most people have two

things. It's very common in the human

condition. I'm talking about people.

And social studies is always one of my favorite subjects.

I'm a observer of people. And you'll know, often times

you'll talk to somebody who has knowledge that they're operating

in perhaps professionally or in some level.

But then when they go home, they kind of take off that hat, if

you would. And in their private life,

things aren't so well, You may have went to a doctor before and

he'd tell you about nutrition. And you're looking at him and

thinking, you don't seem to follow that advice.

Are you a smell? And you're like, wait a minute,

did you have a cigarette before you came and see me?

It's very common for people who are telling you how to be

healthy to be unhealthy, just as it's very common for people who

are in counseling to tell you counsel and it can actually be

good counsel, but they don't follow the same counsel

themselves for whatever reason. It's a part of the human

experience. Unfortunately, we've seen a lot

in the body of Christ recently because guess what?

We're finding out there's a whole lot of people who had a

public ministry, but when they got home, I guess they forgot

who they were walking with. Amen.

That's why I call it a failure in the seeker place and why you

have to understand the key to his success was his heart, but

it also was the key to his failure.

The Bible says he that dwells in the seeker place of the Most

High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.

I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge.

He is my help. He's a present help in a time of

trouble though 1000 fall on my right and 10,000 on my other

side. He says it's not going to come

near me. Why?

Because the Lord is my refuge and my strength.

What is that talking about? Well, abiding in the secret

place of the Most High. And it goes on to say he knows

me by name. I know him by name.

And if your heart is where it's supposed to be, church, God will

give you the ability to navigate every situation.

And that's why it's so important for us to realize that the

spirit of life in Christ Jesus that comes to us can help us

navigate the waters of our life. But we have to start with the

most secret place of all, which is not your personal life, but

your heart. And when he dwells in that heart

of ours, He can give us help in our marriage, in our child

rearing, in our careers, and everything else because it flows

from that. And even when the crisis of life

comes or the struggles come, you're able to still navigate

properly and you're also able to take the knowledge that you

have, whether it's a professional knowledge or

something that you learned on your own.

And He will make you strong enough to be able to walk in

that. But the key is giving God your

heart, letting God dwell in your secret place, and you also

allowing yourself to have a secret place in the Lord.

I have found it to be a strength for me.

And I'm so grateful that I can share a testimony with the

younger people and say, you know what?

I've been serving a long time and guess what?

I found out He's a faithful God. He's able to do exceedingly,

abundantly above all that we are able to ask or think.

But when we're facing a crisis that we don't understand or

we're in a world that's seemingly falling apart, we need

to know where our help comes from.

Amen Church. And that's where we begin to

learn how that God can give us the spirit of wisdom and

understanding in the knowledge of him, the spirit of counsel,

the spirit of might, and the spirit of the fear of the Lord.

And we can find success in every situation.

It says King Solomon love many foreign women as well as the

daughter of the Pharaoh when them the Moabites, Ammonites,

Edomites, Hadonians and Hittites from the nations of whom the

Lord had said to the children of Israel, You shall not intermarry

with them, nor are they with you.

Surely they will turn away your hearts after their gods.

And so Solomon kung to these in love.

It's so important that we'd understand the simplicity of

keeping the word of God. And that's why we're offering

all these Bible classes and so many different settings and so

many different opportunities because church, you have to

understand there's power in the Word of God.

And when we started our church, we started by teaching a class

called Understanding God. And it was 32 weeks class.

And from that we took 45 people to Detroit to be baptized.

And that's been our foundation all along to teach people how

important it is to have a foundation.

That's why we continue to have our new beginner class and we we

make the classes shorter than they used to be, but we offer

more classes because we want you to get a taste of it so that you

can say, you know, I've tasted the Lord.

It's good. I want some Amen church.

Commit yourself to the Word. Go to the website and find out a

way that you can get into a Bible class or Bible training

opportunity or one of the book studies because it's all about

keeping the Word. And Solomon forgot what God had

told him. That's why it doesn't hurt to

take a class over again. One day I was reading one of my

own books and somebody looked at me and laughed as you read your

own books. I said, I have to.

I can't remember what I wrote way back then.

That was a long time ago, but I do the same thing with the Bible

as I'm reading it. I just read it all the time.

Guess what? I'm just amazed I can read it

and I'll go, I didn't know that was there, or I'm looking that

whole different perspective. And so walking in the Word with

a heart that's open to Him, that's key if we want to stand

in the time of trouble. Amen.

And that's why I put up here also knowing the Word.

And we're only going to know the Word because we study the Word.

Then someone built a high place for Shimas, the abomination of

Moab, on the hill that is the eastern Jerusalem, and more like

the abomination of the people of Haman.

And he did likewise for all his foreign wives who burned incense

and sacrifice to their gods. Now I want you to note I put up

here that he was following his need.

I would like to quote the scripture.

It says and God will supply all of our need according to his

riches and glory. We can only turn to God when we

have a need. And I'm not just talking about a

financial need. Often eyes people have

motivating needs in their life. God can satisfy your need, and

once you get past that point, you can go to the next Scripture

that says delight yourself also in the Lord and He will give you

the desire of your heart. You see, Solomon was not a

influencer. He was somebody who became

influenced. And we have to be very careful

in this time because there's all kinds of people out there who

want to influence us. It's a new thing on social

medias. People want to be influencers.

Well, you have to understand from the connotation of these

words that when it comes to your life, you have to know who's

influencing you. Amen.

And we have been called by God to be influencers in the world

in which we live. And unfortunately, what happened

to Solomon has became misdirected.

Now, when you read how that he had 700 wives and 300

concubines, which was kind of like a second Clutter girl wife,

you might think, wow, that guy was really liking he liked

getting married. I mean, it must have been the

ceremony or something. But in fact, the truth is, and

it wasn't the honeymoon. It was something more than that,

believe it or not, when he married his first wife in the

Bible records that it was one of the princesses of Egypt, because

that's how they used to make alliances back then.

You would marry a daughter or a relative of a king of another

country, and that was kind of the way that you would secure

contracts. And so there was a political

reason he would have did these things.

And it seemed in his mind, I'm sure to be a right thing because

that's what everybody was doing at the time.

But in the end he became misdirected by that and he, he

came under the influence of those that he was allowing in.

And I'm sure because he was doing it for contractual reasons

that there was a part of him that could have justified

saying, well, I better let all these wives worship their own

gods because after all, they're only here because we're making

an alliance. Whatever.

There's all kinds of reasons he could have justified the

situation, but in the end he became misdirected and missed

out on the opportunity to experience the blessing of God.

So the Lord became angry with Solomon because his heart had

turned from the Lord of God of Israel, who had appeared to him

twice, and it commanded him concerning this thing, that he

should not go after other gods, but he did not keep what the

Lord had commanded. Therefore the Lord said to

Solomon, because you have done this and have not kept my

comment in my statutes which I commanded you, I will surely

tear the Kingdom away from you and give it to your servant.

Can we all please bow our heads? Close your eyes for just a

moment, Church. I believe this is a very

important moment in the times and the purposes of God.

I covered a whole lot of history and a whole lot of message, but

simply this. Will you let God into your

secret place? Will you open yourself up?

Some of you used to have a secret place and you donated

more. Get back to your secret place.

You need time between you and Jesus.

You need to know who He is, and you need to let Him know who you

are. Of course, he knows you, but he

wants you to willingly show him who you are.

This is Pastor Lauren Coverbius from Mount Zion Church.

We thank you for joining us today and invite you to connect

with our church family by visiting mountzion.org and

following us on social media. God bless you.