Wednesday Night Service 7PM -

Good evening. How are y'all doing? Good to see this guy in the house over here. I didn't expect you. All right. Praise the Lord. Why don't you guys all stand with me and I'll open us up in a word of prayer.

Dear Heavenly Father, I just thank you for God giving us this place that we can just come and focus on you. God, that we can put all of the noise that goes on around us every day in life. God, and we can just listen to you and focus on you and praise you. God, I just pray that as we sing these songs, it would just be us just opening up our hearts to you, that this would be our prayer, that it would draw us near to you and just soften our hearts for the word to follow.

God, I just pray this in your name. Amen.

Worship his whole. Worship your whole. To sing your song. Worship his whole. His kind. And draws near, and my time has come.

A thousand years and then for it.

Amen. You guys can all be seated for these next couple of feet.

They troubled by the peace in my trust.

Questions your truth will hold. Your great love will. And how many of us can say we wake up every morning singing? I struggle sometimes, but man, God can give us that ability if we just claim it in him. Amen. The power in the trial and the change. One, one never runs out on me. Your love never fails. It never gives up, never runs out on me. Your love runs out on me.

Thank you that, Lord, you are the example of unconditional love. God, that you have. Complete justice in your love. God, that covered by the blood of Jesus, we are perfect in your sight. God, I just thank you for that. I just pray that, Lord, we would just walk in that love that we feel all around us. The encouragement and peace and joy that we can wake up with every morning when we are following you.

Lord, I just pray that as Ryan comes this evening and brings your word, God, I pray that you would speak directly to our hearts. That you would anoint him with your Holy Spirit to speak boldly exactly what your word is supposed to show us this evening. I just pray this in your name. Amen.

Good evening. If you would open up in your Bibles to the book of 2 Chronicles chapter 8. 2 Chronicles chapter 8. Tonight we come to the conclusion of Solomon's life. Not only the conclusion of his reign, but the end of his time on earth. And really the end of the time that we discuss him in the Bible. Other than him being mentioned in some places, the story of Solomon will end here.

And so many great things have happened up to this point in time. Of course, Solomon built the temple. And last week we saw that dedication of the temple. And it was such a fantastic scene as the glory of God filled that place. And as we come to chapter 8, what he's going to do for us. Is he's going to give us kind of the list of all of his accomplishments. And then tell us a couple of other things about Solomon.

And then we'll bring some points out. Kind of about the end of his life. And so we pick up in chapter 8. Verse 1 and it says this. Now it came about at the end of 20 years. In which Solomon had built the house of the Lord in his own house. That he built the cities which Huram had given to him. And settled the sons of Israel there. And then Solomon went to Hamathzabah and captured it.

And he built. Tadmor in the wilderness and all the storage cities which he had built in Hamath. And he also built upper Beth Horon and lower Beth Horon. Fortified cities with walls and gates and bars. And Baleth and all the storage cities that Solomon had. And all the cities for his chariots. And all the cities for his horsemen. And all that it pleased Solomon to build in Jerusalem.

In Lebanon. And in all the land under his rule. All the people who were left of the Hittites. The Amorites. The Perizzites. The Hivites and the Jebusites. Who were not of Israel. Namely from their descendants who were left after them in the land. Whom the sons of Israel had not destroyed. Solomon raised as forced laborers to this day. Solomon did not make slaves for his work from the sons of Israel.

They were men of war. And his chief captains. And his commanders of his chariots. And his horsemen. These were the chief officers of King Solomon. 250 who ruled over the people. So basically. You see Solomon the builder. This is going to be the height of course of the nation of Israel. Really the height of their kingdom. And Solomon had been given the task of ultimately building up the kingdom.

His job was not to be the warrior. That was David's job. His job was to be the builder. He built on the foundation that had been established for him by his father. And the work that his father had done. And he really went to town building. And built Israel up to be a superpower of that day. One that God would use to ultimately bring. Nations to an understanding of the truth.

We'll see that in just a minute. And so a lot of things that he built up. There's only one war that we read about with Solomon. Did you take note of it? It said verse 3. Then Solomon went to Hamath Zobah and captured it. That is the only battle that you read of in all of Solomon's reign. That's the only one that he had to fight. Because his father David was the man of bloodshed.

And he was the one who built all of these different cities. And buildings and things along those lines. And of course he established. He established a war. He took the workers for those cities. He took the foreigners that were there. And turned them into forced labor. And he allowed the children of Israel to be the captains. And the soldiers for him. And then in verse 11 it says this.

Then Solomon brought Pharaoh's daughter up from the city of David. To the house which he had built for her. For he said my wife shall not dwell in the house of David king of Israel. Because the places are holy. Where the Lord. Where the ark of the Lord. Has entered. Solomon offered burnt offerings to the Lord on the altar. Which he had built before the porch.

In that verse. We see a little bit of the compromise that took place in Solomon's life. It's interesting because. The writer of second chronicles did not choose. To include the same things that the writer of first kings did. As far as the compromise that was in. In the life of Solomon. You know in first kings we were told that Solomon loved many foreign women.

And they were ultimately his downfall. And the writer of second chronicles. Doesn't include that other than two little things in this chapter. Where we see the area of compromise that had taken place in his life. The first thing. And I don't even know if you caught this. Was that he had built all of these stable cities. For both his horses and his chariots.

Now we're told in the book of Deuteronomy. That when a king becomes the king. Or when a man becomes the king. One of the things he was not supposed to do. Is he was not supposed to amass horses. And he was not supposed to amass chariots. And the reason why. Is because those would become what he would trust in. As opposed to the Lord his God. That's why often times.

The place of success. Is one of the most dangerous places that we find ourselves. The place of prosperity. Is often one of our most dangerous places. In our trust in the Lord. Because often times. When we are the most prosperous. When we have the most. We look to God the least. Because we say well. I really don't need God that much right now. After all. I pretty well have things under control.

That's why often times. The greatest blessing that takes place in our life. Is the blessing of. Loss. The blessing of being forced. To be in a place. Where all we can do is trust in the Lord. Because when we are in a place. Where all we can do is trust in the Lord. We ultimately have everything that we need. But he had amassed these horses. And these chariots.

Which is why throughout the Old Testament. God said things like. Some trust in horses. And some trust in chariots. You should trust in the name of the Lord your God. But the second and biggest area of compromise. In the life of Solomon. We read about. In verse 11. Let me read it to you again. It says. Then Solomon brought Pharaoh's daughter up from the city of David.

To the house which he had built for her. For he said my wife shall not dwell. In the house of David king of Israel. Because the places are holy. Where the ark of the Lord has entered. It's interesting because Solomon knew. That a marriage to a foreign wife. Was the wrong thing for him to do. Essentially being unequally yoked. Was the wrong thing for him to do.

He knew it wasn't right. And you can tell he knew it wasn't right. Because he didn't let her live. In Jerusalem. He didn't let her live. In the house of King David. He said that's a holy place. She can't be there. Listen young folks. If any of you are in here. You need to know something. If you don't want to bring your significant other to church. You should ask yourself why.

If you don't want to bring your significant other. Around your family. You should ask yourself why. Because that's probably what we call a red flag. Because usually that means there's something in that person. That you don't want to be discovered. Well this is what Solomon found himself doing. And what we find is that Solomon didn't just marry. One foreign woman.

He married a lot of them. As a matter of fact. Solomon had so many different wives. I think it was a thousand wives that he had. And you know some commentators say. Well you know most of those were marriages of political alliances. It's like I mean there might have been like five. Right. At some point in time. These are not all political alliances. There weren't that many countries.

Right. There just weren't that many different political alliances to make. At some point in time what this was. Is it was a compromise of his flesh. And that compromise of his flesh. Ultimately led him down a path. That there was no return from. Some question whether or not Solomon will be in heaven. I can't answer that question for you. It's interesting to read the book of Ecclesiastes.

Because at the end of the book of Ecclesiastes. It feels like maybe Solomon. Reached the place where he knew what was right. Because he says this is man's greatest end. To fear the Lord his God. And to serve him all of his days. So we hope that that is the case for Solomon. But what an unfortunate legacy to leave behind. That compromise is what came into your life.

So much so that people have to question. Whether or not that individual is going to be in heaven. And so we see this compromise take place in the life of Solomon. Compromise that he was aware of. But compromise that he made anyway. But then notice what Solomon did in verse 12. It says. Then Solomon offered burnt offerings to the Lord. On the altar of the Lord.

Which he had built before the porch. And did so according to the daily rule. Offering them up. According to the daily rule. According to the commandment of Moses. For the Sabbath. The new moons. And the three annual festivals. The feast of unleavened bread. The feast of weeks. Which we call the feast of Pentecost. And the feast of booths. Now according to the ordinance of his father David.

He appointed the divisions of the priests. For their service. And the Levites for their duties of praise. And ministering before the priests. According to the daily rule. And the gatekeepers for their division. At every gate. For David the man of God had so commanded. And they did not depart from the commandment of the king. To the priests and the Levites in any manner.

Or concerning the storehouses. Thus all the work of Solomon was carried out. For the day of the foundation of the house of the Lord. Until it was finished. So the house of the Lord was completed. Solomon went to Ezeon-Geber. And to Eloth on the seashore of the land of Edom. And Hurim his servants sent him ships. And servants who knew the sea. And they went with Solomon's servants to Ophir.

And took from there 450 talents of gold. And brought them to King Solomon. So the last of what we read about kind of his accomplishments. Is that he developed a navy that went and did some trading. Part of the way he gained a great deal of his wealth. Was through sea trading. So kind of interesting there. But the thing that I want to point out to you about the end of this chapter.

Is that did you notice what Solomon continued to do? Let me read it to you again. Verse 12. Then Solomon offered burnt offerings to the Lord on the altar of the Lord. Which he had built. Which he had built before the porch. And he did so according to everything that the law of Moses had said. It's interesting because in the midst of him living in compromise.

He continued to take part in religious rituals. Now I'm sure when it all started. When he first started offering these sacrifices to the Lord. It was with the right kind of heart. It was with a heart to honor God. We saw that in the last chapter. I believe Solomon started well. I believe he started off exactly as he was supposed to. But pretty soon compromise started coming into his life.

Compromise in smaller areas. Like amassing horses and chariots. Maybe a little bit of something he shouldn't have done. But it wasn't affecting the moral fabric of who he is. But then bigger compromises started to come about in his life. The bigger compromises that came about in his life had to do with his love life. And the things that he allowed in. And the people that he allowed in.

That ultimately drug him down. Instead of the other way around. And him rising to the occasion. But he continued to cover the compromise with one thing. He continued to cover the compromise with religious activity. You see, Sunday morning we talked about drifting. And as I was studying this I thought what a perfect illustration of what it looks like to drift.

Where you drift into sin. But you continue covering it with the religious activity. You continue covering it with the things that you're doing. I'm drifting into compromise but I'm still going to church. I'm drifting into compromise. I'm drifting into compromise. But hey. I still have a Bible. I'm drifting into compromise but I still like that worship music.

Right? And we cover over our compromise with the fact that it's okay. I'm still doing these religious things. And we comfort ourselves with our religious works. Instead of comforting ourselves with our repentance from sin. Because after all, what does God truly desire from us? The sacrifice that God desires as Samuel told Saul is obedience. That's what God really desires.

He desires a heart that is truly for him. And Solomon slowly but surely drifted from the things of the Lord. While all the while taking part in all of the religious activity. It's a warning that we should pay attention to. Well, we'll deal with that a little bit more at the end. Now as we come to chapter 9 verse 1. We see a visit from the queen of Sheba. Mine actually labels it as that.

It says, Now when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon. She came to Jerusalem to test Solomon with difficult questions. She had a very large retinue. Which is a great word. With camels carrying spices and a large amount of gold and precious stones. And when she came to Solomon. She spoke with him about all that was in her heart. Now this is a fascinating scene.

And one that I often times buzz by. But it's really kind of a cool thing. Because this queen of Sheba. There's some debate on where Sheba actually was. Whether it was actually in Africa. Whether it was actually in Africa. Whether it was actually in Africa. Or whether it was down in southern Saudi Arabia type of an area. But no matter what. It was at least 1,500 miles away.

That's at least a two month trip. Some have even said 75 days it would have taken her to get there riding a camel. Now I've never thought about the length of time that it would take for her to arrive there. Now I want you to think about two things. Number one. I want you to think about how on earth did she hear about Solomon. Right. We kind of fancy ourselves to be pretty good with communication in the world in which we live.

Like you can immediately get information out. And the whole world knows things that have happened right away. Because we have these phones. We have these devices. But what I'm always amazed with is that in the day in which they live. They can still get information to ends of the earth without the devices that we have today. That's always a fascinating thing to me.

And I'll deal with that again when we get to the end of our message. But the other thing is that she was so committed to seek the truth. Because notice she didn't show up to see his wealth. She showed up to ask him questions. Because remember God had given him wisdom greater than anybody else. And she showed up with questions. I think she showed up with questions about this God that he served.

And I'll tell you why in just a minute. But she shows up with questions. And so she sets out on a journey over a desert that took at least two months. If not two and a half months to arrive there. So today is February the 4th. So we're looking at February to March. March to April. We're talking middle of April. Right? Some of y'all's semester is about to end when she arrives there.

That's how long it took for her to get there. And she arrived with a great retinue. In other words a great entourage arrived with her. Everybody noticed when this chick showed up. Right? And what did she show up to do? It says she showed up and asked questions. She spoke with him about all that was on her heart. And so Solomon answered. All of her questions.

Nothing was hidden from Solomon which he did not explain to her. When the queen of Sheba had seen the wisdom of Solomon. The house which God had built. The food at his table. The seating of his servants. The attendance of his ministers and their attire. His cup bearers and their attire. And his stairway by which she went up to the house of the Lord. She was breathless.

I believe the old King James and the new King James. Both say that her heart melted. Melted within her. In other words it was almost too much to take in. It was almost too much to take in. Between hearing the wisdom that he had. And seeing the blessing that God had put on his life. It was so much for her. That she could barely take in everything that she saw.

And I want you to notice how she responds. Verse 5. Then she said to the king. It was a true report which I heard in my own land about your words and your wisdom. Your wisdom. Nevertheless. I did not believe until I came and my eyes had seen it. And behold the half of the greatness of your wisdom was not told me. You surpassed the report that I had heard. How blessed are your men.

How blessed are those who serve you. Who stand before you continually and hear your wisdom. Blessed be the Lord your God. Who delighted in you. Setting you on his throne as king for the Lord. Because your God loved Israel. Established them forever. Therefore he made you king over them to do justice and righteousness. First thing she does is she realizes how blessed all the people are.

Because how blessed is the nation who have godly leadership. Right? Even though there was compromise. We'll deal with that again in just a moment. It was still godly leadership that was given in that moment. Godly leadership that had godly wisdom that went along with it. So she said how blessed are your people that they get to serve under you. But what she really.

When she really got to the heart of her impression of what had taken place. She said and how blessed is your God. How blessed is your God. She ultimately gave glory to God for what she had seen. Which is kind of interesting because this is what Israel was supposed to do. Israel was supposed to be a light to the nations. Israel was supposed to be the representative of truth.

So that all the world would come to her. So that all the world would come to Israel. To know the one true God. That was Israel's purpose in the region that God set her. As a matter of fact go a couple of different places in scripture with me. Go over to Deuteronomy chapter 28.

Deuteronomy 28. I want you to look at verse 1. I got to get there first though. Deuteronomy chapter 28 verse 1. It says this. Now it shall be. If you diligently obey the Lord your God. Being careful to do all his commandments which I command you today. The Lord your God. The Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. Jump down to verse 10.

It says so all the peoples of the earth will see that you are called by the name of the Lord. And they will be afraid of you. You see Israel ultimately was to be a light to the nations. And that's exactly in this moment what God was able to do through Solomon. Is he was able to through Solomon show the blessings that God had for him. The wisdom that God had.

And it ultimately became a witness to the nations around him. And I believe that that's exactly what happened with this queen of Sheba. I'm not sure that we won't see her when we get to heaven. And we're like how was that trip? Tell me about it. And you know why I think that? Because in Matthew chapter 12. Go there with me. Matthew chapter 12 verse 42. I know hang in there with me.

You can do it. I believe in you. Over to the New Testament. Matthew chapter 12. My fingers are moving slow too. It's okay.

Look at verse 42. Jesus says this to the religious leaders who aren't believing the witness that they see in Jesus. He says, The queen of the south will rise up with this generation at the judgment and will condemn it. Because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon. And behold something greater than Solomon is here. Jesus says it's the queen of Sheba.

That's ultimately going to bear witness against you. Because she heard about Solomon's wisdom and showed up to hear what he had to say. Which glorified me. And you're missing out on someone who's even better than Solomon. Which is Jesus. And so I think that God used this in a really powerful way in this lady's life. But you know if you think about it. This is what we are supposed to do.

We are supposed to live in such a way that people see our lives and they glorify God. Matter of fact, you don't have to turn to her. But you might. Write this down. Matthew chapter 5 verse 16. Matthew 5 verse 16. And this is what it says. It says, Therefore let your light so shine before men that they see your good works and they glorify your Father who is in heaven.

Because when God is unleashed. When we unleash the greatness of the things that God does in our lives. It ultimately draws people to him. It ultimately draws people to the truth. Because they say, I want to know. What God has done for you. And I want to see if he can do the same thing for me. And God wants us to be used in that sort of a way. And imagine how powerful of a witness Solomon and the rest of the nation of Israel would have had.

If compromise had not eroded the moral fabric of the nation. And that should be a word to us. Maintain your life. So that you can continue to be a light to the people that are around you. You know, if we were to jump into some end times prophecy. We would find in the book of Ezekiel and the book of Isaiah and different places like that. We would find that in the end times when God once again exalts Israel as he has always intended them to be.

In that millennial kingdom we are told that there will be a highway to Jerusalem. Where the people will come to Jerusalem to see this great God. That's ultimately God's plan for what's to take place. And that's what we see here. We see a beautiful picture of what happens when a nation glorifies God. As ultimately people come and they want to see what truly has made the nation great.

And it had nothing to do with Solomon. It had everything to do with the God that he served. And so in verse 9. Back to 2 Chronicles chapter 9. In verse 9 it says this. That she gave the king 120 talents of gold. And a very great amount of spices. And precious stones. There had never been spice like this. Which the queen of Sheba gave to Solomon. The servants of Haram and the servants of Solomon who brought gold from Ophir.

Also brought algram trees and precious stones from the algram trees. The king made steps for the house of the Lord and for the king's palace. And the lyres and the harps and for the singers. And none like that was seen before in the land of Judah. And king Solomon gave to the queen of Sheba all her desire which she requested. Besides a return for what she had brought to the king.

Then she turned and went to her own land. And with her servants. And you find that that witness actually continues after her. Well the last thing that we'll look at tonight at the end of chapter 9. Is we'll look at the wealth that Solomon had. Now the weight of the gold which came to Solomon in one year was 666 talents of gold. Again I don't think we should build a theology off of this.

But it is kind of fascinating that the amount of gold that came into Solomon's house every year was 666 talents. Now listen. All you prophecy heads. Don't now figure out a way to make sure that you know that gold is the mark of the beast. Or something like that. Okay. Don't do that. That would be dumb. But it is kind of interesting that that's the number. I was reading Chuck Smith on this.

And I wish I was listening to Chuck Smith when he said this. Because I can imagine the incredibly long pause that he took. Because it says 666. Hmm. That's an interesting number. And if you've ever heard Chuck speak. I'm sure he said it slower than that. That's an interesting number. And then he moved on and kept talking. I loved it. I didn't speculate. So besides that which the traders.

Verse 14. And merchants brought and all the kings of Arabia and the governors of the country brought gold and silver to Solomon. And King Solomon made 200 large shields of beaten gold. Using 600 shekels of beaten gold on each large shield. And he made 300 shields of beaten gold using 300 shekels of gold on each shield. The king put them in the house of the forest of Lebanon.

Moreover the king made a great throne of ivory. And he overlaid it with pure gold. There were six steps to the throne. And a footstool in gold attached to the throne. And arms on each side of the seat. And two lions standing beside the arms. Twelve lions were standing on the steps. On one side and one on the other. Nothing like it was made for any. Any other kingdom.

All of Solomon's drinking vessels. You guessed it. Were of gold. And all the vessels of the house of the forest of Lebanon. Wait for it. Pure gold. Silver was not considered valuable in the days of Solomon. Matter of fact I bet on the radio they couldn't say you should buy gold. They should be like don't buy gold because there's none left. Solomon has all of it.

For the king had ships which went to Tarshish with the servants of Haram once every three years. And came back bringing gold and silver. Ivory. Apes and peacocks. Again, I don't know that there's anything spiritually significant about apes and peacocks there. But can you imagine what it was like to live in Israel at this point in time? And there's just apes cruising around.

I don't think that they were probably just running wild. But there's zoos with apes in them. It was the only place besides where they actually lived where this was taking place. And they were given this little commentary. Verse 22. So King Solomon became greater than all the kings of the earth in riches and in wisdom. And all the kings of the earth. All the kings of the earth were seeking the presence of Solomon to hear his wisdom.

Which God had put in his heart. And they brought every man gifts. Articles of silver and gold. Garments, weapons, spices, horses and mules. So much year by year. I looked at some of the figures for how much some of these things cost. And the numbers were so astronomical that they were hard to take in. Basically, I think Solomon could have spent a million dollars a month.

And been able to do that for like 175 years. And still not run out of money. It was something along those lines. It was a fantastic amount of money. For him to be the richest guy at that point in time. So rich that so much gold in the land that he took gold. Turned it into shields that they didn't use. Because I don't know if you know anything about metals.

But gold is a pretty soft metal. And you don't want to use that as a shield. Because you could pretty well get destroyed in battle if you use gold as a shield. They wouldn't use those shields. They just hung them up in one of the houses. And said look at all of the gold shields. Because that's what God wants. That's what God did for Solomon. And it was so much so that he was greater in wealth than any other king at that point in time.

He was greater in wisdom than any other king at that point in time. And everyone wanted to know what does Solomon have to say about this. Like what is Solomon's thoughts on this? Every other king came to him for wisdom. And I think that's a fantastic thing. Because here is this man who is supposed to be a man of God. And everyone is seeking out his wisdom. You know why?

Because God keeps his promises. Remember how Solomon started? Solomon started off so well. Because God had appeared to Solomon in that dream. After he had taken over the kingdom. And God said I'll give you anything that you want. You name it. And Solomon said Lord this is a great people. I don't know what I'm doing. I just need some wisdom to know how to rule this people.

And God said that's a fantastic idea. And since you chose wisdom. I'm going to give you everything that you need. I'm going to give you everything that you need. I'm going to give you everything that you did not ask for. I'm not only going to give you more wisdom than you can imagine. But I'm also going to give you wealth that can't even be described. And God kept his promise.

That's what this entire chapter is about. It's about God keeping his promise to Solomon. That God blessed him more than he could ever imagine. Because that's what God does. God loves to bless us more than we can ever imagine. God loves to give good gifts to his people. You know in fact, I'm going to give you a little bit of wisdom. I'm going to give you a little bit of wisdom.

I'm going to give you a little bit of wisdom. God gives good gifts to his people. The unfortunate thing is sometimes we don't use them very wisely. And that's what happened with Solomon. And so it goes on from there to say, verse 25. Now Solomon had four thousand stalls for his chariots, Now Solomon had four thousand stalls for his chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen,

and he stationed them in the chariot cities with the king in Jerusalem. He was the ruler of all the kings from the Euphrates River even to the land of the Philistines and as far as the border of Egypt. The king made silver as common as stones in Jerusalem The king made silver as common as stones in Jerusalem and cedars as plentiful as sycamore trees that are in the lowland. And they were bringing horses for Solomon from Egypt and from all countries.

And the rest of the acts of Solomon, from the first to the last, are they not written in the records of Nathan the prophet, and in the prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite, and the visions of Iddo the seer, concerning Jeroboam the son of Nebat? concerning Jeroboam the son of Nebat? And Solomon reigned forty years in Jerusalem over all Israel. And Solomon slept with his fathers and was buried in the city of his father David.

And Rehoboam reigned in his place. And next week we'll talk about Rehoboam. But I want to spend the last few minutes while we're here doing four things. Telling you four things. Because there's some conclusions that I drew from the life of Solomon. I've really considered this life a lot because the potential was so great and the failure was so fantastic that I feel like

if we don't take time to look at someone who was blessed with more wisdom than any other human being on the face of the earth and figure out why he fell, then probably we have a potential of doing the same thing for ourselves. And I don't think it's any accident that we talked about drifting on Sunday and we talk about this today. It almost kind of made me go, okay, Lord, I better really pay attention to myself. In between this, by the way, I read another chapter in a leadership book that I'm reading right now by Warren Wiersbe called On Being a Servant of God.

And it was all about the minister maintaining his life. And I was like, okay, Lord, I get the idea. I'm going to pay attention. I'm going to stay focused. There's four things I think that we learn from the life of Solomon. And I'm going to take them in really good to really sobering. Number one, God is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we can ask or think.

God's able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we can ask or think. I still think we tend to limit God. I tend to limit God. I tend to think that God is going to hold back something from me that I need or he's going to hold back some blessing from me. Now, that doesn't necessarily mean that you're going to have all of the wealth of Solomon. I don't think any of you

are probably going to be worth a gabillion dollars. I made that number up, by the way. Just call me George Bush. I made that word up, by the way. It's not real. But I don't think any of you are going to be worth a gabillion dollars anytime soon. And if you are, my number is. And you can come talk to me later. But that's not what I'm talking about when I talk about the fact that God's able to do exceedingly abundantly

I think God wants to continue to move big in the lives of every person that attends this church. I think God wants to move big in this community. I think that God wants to move big in this county, in this state, in this nation. But we limit God. We limit God because we don't think big enough. We limit God because we don't think hard enough. We limit God because we think there's things

that are still off limits for him. I think sometimes we think people are beyond saving. I think we think communities are beyond reaching. I think that we think families are beyond redeeming. And because of that sometimes we hold back what God wants to do because we haven't decided God can do exceedingly abundantly above all we can ever ask or think. I'm not saying God's not sovereign and he can't move past that

if he wanted to. What I am saying is Jesus makes it very clear that because of unbelief often times things don't happen. And I think that we should believe that God wants to do big things. I think that we should believe that God wants to move powerfully. Because what we see here is that God kept a promise to Solomon and he kept it in one of the most fantastic ways possible

by doing more than Solomon could have ever dreamed. And so the first thing I think that we learn from the life of Solomon is that God is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we can ask or think. Number two the witness of God cannot be stopped. The witness of God cannot be stopped. And that's another thing I think we need to hold on to in this culture is

everybody gets worried about being cancelled right now, right? They may block me on this particular social media program. Listen, a lady that lived two and a half months away from Solomon when there was zero ways of digital communication and very little written communication like people weren't just sending letters every single day people weren't sending emails or text messages or snapchats or any of that kind of stuff. A woman that lived 1500 miles away heard about what God was doing in the land of Solomon.

Heard what God was doing in the land of Israel. And I think that we need to remember that the witness of God can't be stopped because he is so much bigger than what we view as an issue for him. God is always going to allow his witness to go out. Have you ever considered the fact that through the entire dark ages the word of God was preserved? That when they were trying to

get rid of all the copies of scripture when the Catholic Church was trying to make it to where the word of God could not get into the hands of the people of God, God still preserved his word. His witness was still preserved. And some guy with a printing press that he had to move constantly with his hands printed the entire Bible out. You tell me that God's not bigger than what we look at as issues for God.

Because his witness will continue to go out, but he wants to use you to do it. I think about in the book of Acts and the fact that there's a line in the book of Acts when Paul was in Ephesus, I don't remember the exact chapter, but Paul was in Ephesus and it said that everyone in Asia had heard the word of God. Was that hyperbole? Maybe. Was it a potential?

Probably. People were coming all the time to hear God's word be taught by him and then they were taking it back to their homelands. And God wants to use you to do that. God wants to use you to be the one who spreads the witness. I didn't intend on sharing this tonight, but I shared this with a group of kids this morning. And the teacher that was in the classroom when I shared it with him said,

I wish we would talk about this in church more often. So FCA has this thing, a discipleship program, it's called E3. Engage, equip, empower. And then I do that after I share it. And so part of it is that you have to identify, because God wants us to engage people for the purpose of multiplication, right? Jesus took 12 dudes and he said, alright guys, actually 11

by the time one of them dimed out on Jesus, took 11 guys and said, now, you go into all the world and spread the gospel. Start in Jerusalem, move into Judea, then into Samaria, and then into the other most parts of the earth. You throw in Paul, who made the 12th, and by the time the end of the book of Acts was written, the gospel had spread to the known world at that point in time. How?

Through 12 guys. Why? Because those 12 guys made 12 more guys, who made 12 more guys, who made 12 more guys. I don't math very well, but that's a bunch of people. All because they said, these are my people, I'm just gonna reach them. And so what we do is we say, okay, now you gotta build a map for yourself, right? So everybody has a circle of influence. No, people don't realize this,

and this is an eye-opener, and I've done this with adults too, and they're like, I never thought about that. Everybody has a circle of influence. It starts with you. But everybody has some major circles off their circle of influence, right? Like, I have my family, I have my FCA groups, I have my church, and I have my coffee shop people. And then there's the people at

Walmart, and I don't reach very many of them anymore, but the coffee shop group's a big one, right? And so those are, and then in each one of those groups, there's a handful of people in each of those groups, right? That's my circle of influence. You have the same thing. You have your family, you have the people in your work, you have wherever you frequent at a restaurant, you've got all these different

people in your world, and the witness of God can't be stopped. Because it'll still go out, no matter what anybody else says, because you go with your circle of influence. You go with your circle of influence. It's just like that story that Jim Butler shared the other day, that the dad, the granddad prayed that God would make him a pastor, that God would make his sons pastors.

And not only did his sons become pastors, but his grandsons became pastors, and now because of one guy, and his small circle of influence, 500 churches got started. You see, that's the impact that someone who decides that they're going to carry the witness of Jesus into the world, that's the impact you can make. I don't know how we got there from Solomon, but here we are. The witness of God cannot be stopped. Number three,

now's where it gets sobering. Compromise eroded the foundation of his life and the foundation of his kingdom. Compromise eroded the foundation of his life and the foundation of his kingdom. Here's the thing about compromise, it never starts off big. It always starts off small. It always starts off with one small area of your life that you're willing to give a little bit.

That's probably not that big of a deal, so yeah, we can do that. And that whole, give them an inch and they'll take a mile, there's a reason that's a saying, right? And that's what happens in our lives. It started with some horses, and then it started with some chariots, and then pretty soon he's compromised. He's compromised in every part of his life. One of my favorite books

that I've read is about a guy by the name of Josh Hamilton. He was a baseball player for the Texas Rangers and probably had his life not been compromised, probably one of the best hitters that has ever come into the major leagues. And Josh Hamilton was injured a little while early on in his career. And he started going to get tattoos. Now I'm not saying you can't get tattoos,

I'm saying he started hanging out with the wrong people. He compromised with the people that he allowed himself to be around, because he was just hanging out at the tattoo parlor all the time. And pretty soon some of the guys there introduced him to drugs. When he got introduced to drugs, he went from being an incredibly stout power hitter to a guy that weighed about 125 pounds.

He didn't get there overnight. He got there one little compromise at a time. And that's exactly what he says in his book. He says, I didn't get there overnight. I got there one small bad decision at a time. Because as it said in the book that I was reading yesterday, the fabric of our lives are made up in the small decisions that we make every single day. That's what

builds the foundation. And for Solomon, that compromise eroded his life and eroded his kingdom. Therefore the kingdom of Israel went from one of the greatest that the world had seen at that point in time to a kingdom that was divided to a kingdom that was taken over. Because little compromises erode the fabric of your life. And they eroded the fabric of the kingdom.

And that brings me to number four. That drifting happens when we cover compromise with religious activity. That drifting happens when we cover compromise with religious activity. Listen, there's nothing wrong with religious activity. You should go to church. You should read your Bible. You should take part in worship. All those kinds of things. But don't do those things just to cover

up a guilty conscience. Do those things because you have repented of your sin. Do those things because you have dealt with the compromise in your life. Don't cover the compromise with another religious action. I remember oddly enough hearing a teaching on this by Andy Stanley of all people. It was used powerfully in my life in my early twenties. Because Andy Stanley

talked about the drifting that took place in the life of Solomon and how Solomon probably always held onto this one thing. But I built the temple and I'm making the sacrifices. And he just kept every compromise he talked about that Solomon made. He said but he probably always went back to but I built the temple and I'm making sacrifices. Yes I'm doing this stuff over here but I

built the temple and I'm making sacrifices. Meanwhile what God really desires is a heart that is repentant towards him. Because while Samuel told Saul that what God desires is not sacrifice but obedience we're also reminded that the sacrifice that God desires is a broken spirit and a broken and a contrite heart. And what God really desires from us is repentance from our sin and wholehearted devotion to him.

And we can't just keep covering it with religious things. And if that's you, if you're just covering compromise with religious things I want to tell you something. You're going to drift. And pretty soon it will just be the exercise of you showing up here on a Sunday morning or a Wednesday night. You won't get anything from it. You won't learn anything from it. Your life will never

change. You'll just keep showing up and saying but at least I made it to church while you're continuing to live like the rest of the world while you're continuing to live in sin in the rest of your life. Brothers and sisters, I don't want to end on a somber note but quite frankly the life of Solomon ends on a pretty somber note. So what we have to do is to keep our hearts right before the Lord. I heard a pastor say

on Sunday that the best thing that you can do is live in honesty. Honesty with yourself and honesty with God. Don't hide things from him. Don't hide things from you. Because as you're authentic with God, he will do the changes in you that need to be done. Amen. Father we come before you and I just thank you that you have blessed us with the opportunity to study your word. And Lord I thank you that you

continue to be patient with us. I thank you that you give us warnings in scripture. That you show us areas where we need to change our lives. And God I just ask that you would continue to do that work in us. Father may we examine our lives to see if there is anything. And Lord, may we like David say search me and know me oh God. And see if there is any wicked way in me.

And then lead me in the way everlasting. So God do that work in our hearts we pray. In Jesus name. Amen. Be blessed.