Wisdom and Downfall: Solomons Fall From Grace

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Coming up on Renewed Mindsets this week I'm going to talk to you about one of my heroes.

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He's a man from the Old Testament.

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His name is Solomon and I promise this isn't a promo for my Wisdom of the Day podcast, but if you listen to that, I'll love you forever.

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Let's go, boys.

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I'll love you forever.

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Let's go boys.

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Gen Xers and Millennials navigate spiritually through a world that looks nothing like we expected back, when cars were square and mullets were totally awesome.

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I am so glad you're here Now before I get started.

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King Solomon was not perfect.

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Really.

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He's a great example of how a person that's blessed with the favor of God can fail.

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He's a great example of how a person that's blessed with the favor of God can fail, and it shows us today that very few Christians can resist the temptations posed by free sex, great wealth or power over other people.

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And he was right.

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Many gifted men and women who start out with clean character and admirable goals have fallen like dominoes when their pride blossoms to full-blown corruption.

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That's the problem, and the great King Solomon has to take his place in this long line of fallen leaders Now.

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Solomon started out with great promise he was crowned king of Israel.

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Instead of asking God for long life and riches and an overpowering military, solomon asked for wisdom.

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That's all he asked for wisdom to lead God's people justly.

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And God was pleased with the unselfishness of this request and promised Solomon what he asked, as well as all the external blessings.

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In the years and the decades that followed his coronation, so to say, solomon's efforts, in everything that he touched, were great.

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He expanded trade, he strengthened the military, he wrote numerous songs, he wrote all these proverbs and he was an expert in natural history.

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Last but not least, he was big into public works and he built something great.

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You know what it is, richard Chamberlain in King Solomon's Minds?

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No, not that, but it's close.

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It was a temple, solomon's temple, as a young, newly crowned king Solomon prayed O Lord, my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father, david.

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Although I'm only a little child, I do not know how to go out or come in, but as the years passed, solomon's treasury is filled with gold.

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He ruled one of the wealthiest and most powerful countries of his time and everywhere he went, people flattered him for his intellect and his great success, and apparently there was no one close enough to him to keep his feet on the ground, no one to remind him of his spiritual vulnerability, nobody to hold him accountable.

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Let's talk about his life at this point and I'll close the biography at the end.

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Now, right now I'm going to be in 1 Kings, chapter 3, 1 through 15.

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So in that we see that Solomon arranged a marriage contract with the Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, and he married Pharaoh's daughter and brought her to the city of David until he completed building his royal palace and God's temple and the wall around Jerusalem.

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Now, meanwhile, the people were worshiping at local shrines, because at that time there had no temple had been built in the name of God.

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So Solomon loved God and continued to live in the God-honoring ways of David, his father, except that he also worshiped at the local shrines and he offered sacrifices and burnt incense there.

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Now let's stop for a moment.

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Now we see how Solomon loved God, but he had a small little blemish he used local shrines for worship.

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Now we need to look at that.

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That even though these local shrines had been used, and maybe were still used, for the false gods of the lands, solomon was not worshiping these gods.

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And, as we see in the following verses, as God speaks to Solomon as he worships at one of these local shrines.

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We know that it was okay at that point.

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The problem was that he continued to use these shrines and eventually or maybe it was an endorsement of idol worship At the very least using these undermined the commands for God's people to worship God at the tabernacle.

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Now, maybe it even made it too convenient for people.

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But either way, solomon, while loving God, had this blemish.

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So, anyway, the king goes to Gibeon Now that's the most prestigious of all the local shrines and he goes there to worship.

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And while he's there he sacrificed a thousand whole burnt offerings on that altar.

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Now, a whole burnt offering, that's a religious animal sacrifice from back in that time that completely consumes the sacrifice by fire, leaving nothing but ashes.

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And he did a thousand of them on the altar.

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It's called a Holocaust sacrifice because it's all-consuming.

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I guess it would be considered like the greatest sacrifice that you could give to God.

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Now, that night, while Solomon slept in Gibeon, god appeared to him in a dream and he said what can I give you?

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Just ask me.

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And Solomon said you were extravagantly generous in love with David, my father, and he lived faithfully in your presence and his relationships were just and his heart was right.

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And you've persisted in this great and generous love by giving him, and in this very day, a son to sit on his throne.

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And now here I am, god, my God, you've made me your servant ruler in the kingdom place of David, my father.

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I'm too young for this, I'm just a child.

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I don't know the ropes, I hardly know the ins and outs of this job.

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And here I am, sat down in the middle of the people you've chosen, a great people, too many to ever count.

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And here's what I want, god give me a listening heart so that I can lead your people well, discerning the difference between good and evil.

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Because who, on their own, is capable of leading your glorious people?

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God was so delighted with Solomon's response and God said to him because you've asked for this, because you didn't ask me for riches or a long life or the doom of your enemies, but you've asked for the ability to lead and govern.

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Well, I'm going to give you what you asked for.

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I'm going to give you a wise and mature heart.

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There's never been one like you before and there'll be no one like you after.

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And as a bonus, I'm giving you the wealth and the glory that you didn't ask for.

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There's not a king anywhere who will come up to your mark, and if you stay on course, keeping your eye on the life map and the God signs, as your father, david, did, I'll also give you a long life.

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So Solomon wakes up what a dream.

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He goes back to Jerusalem and he takes his place before the chest of the covenant of God and he's worshipped by sacrificing the whole burnt offerings and the peace offerings, and then he laid out a banquet for everybody in his service.

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So the basic thought with Solomon was that Solomon, as David's successor, was a hero because he took Israel to new heights.

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Right, he kept the momentum that David had established and Israel became a country that influenced the entire known world.

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That was part of God's plan.

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Israel was positioned at the crossroads of the world.

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All the other empires that existed the Egyptian, the Babylonian, the Assyrian, all in all those they'd all have to travel through Israel in order to conquer other lands.

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They'd all have to travel through Israel in order to conquer other lands.

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So Israel was uniquely positioned to tell the entire world about the one true creator, god of the universe.

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Now, under Solomon, israel prospered and flourished to such an extent that they did have that opportunity.

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There's also a lot of things that I need to remind you of concerning Solomon.

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Solomon loved the Lord.

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You can't say it enough.

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Solomon loved God.

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He knew and understood that God wanted the rulers of his people to be just.

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Solomon knew that God wanted him not to just do what was right in God's eyes Personally, but as the king Solomon knew that God wanted him not to just do what was right in God's eyes personally, but, as the king, god wanted him to make sure that the people did what was right.

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Both Solomon and David loved the Lord.

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Israel had seen two kings that loved God and loved justice.

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Solomon was totally committed to God and to God's ways.

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In order for things to be right in our lives, this has to be our first and foremost concern Loving Jesus and loving his ways, nurturing that desire to wholeheartedly worship the Lord and not letting anything else get in the way of that love.

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Now, this way of living makes all the difference in the world and our lives, but half-hearted and mediocre decisions don't cut it.

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Lukewarmness won't cut it.

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Now, if there's one thing to remember for Solomon, it's his great love for God and God's ways.

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This is what we're called to emulate.

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This is what we're called to embrace ourselves.

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But there's a second remarkable thing about Solomon Solomon desired to rule wisely.

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Now you've got to remember that he was 18 years old.

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He was just a young man, and as for a ruler, the scriptures repeatedly acknowledge that at 18, he was really just a child.

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Most of the 18-year-olds that I know of, if they were told by God to make a wish, wouldn't be asking for the wisdom to rule justly.

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They'd be asking for a billion dollars or a new Mustang, something like that.

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But Solomon recognized how inept he was to rule over all these people.

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It must have been overwhelming.

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So when God asked him what he wanted, solomon said Give me a discerning heart so I can rule wisely and make good choices for all these people.

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You've got to remember that Solomon grew up under the shadow of his father.

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Yeah, david, he grew up under the shadow of his father's greatest sin and failure.

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Solomon's mother was Bathsheba, so he heard and saw the consequences of David's sin played out as he grew up.

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The book of James tells us that God loves us enough to give us wisdom, and he's going to do it if we ask, if we love him and seek him and seek out his ways.

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God pours out wisdom on his children.

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A fool says in his heart that there is no God.

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But the wise know that life is too unpredictable and too chaotic to trust in only our own efforts.

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The wise know that we need help from someone larger than us and larger than life.

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We knew help from Christ.

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We know Christ.

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Here's a third thing Solomon's wisdom.

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Solomon's wisdom gave him credibility.

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Yeah, countries far and wide sought out Solomon.

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He gained influence and riches.

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And right after these passages there's the story of the two prostitutes who each had a baby.

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The mother of one child, in her sleep, rolled over and killed the other child and she got up and switched her dead baby with the other woman's child.

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It's not funny, but I'm just like geez.

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The other woman woke up and was horrified, but then, looking closely, she realized that this was her child and a big argument erupted and the lawyers were retained and lawsuits were filed and the case finally ended up in Solomon's Supreme Court.

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And Solomon listened for a few moments and then, in the midst of all the bickering and fighting and whatnot, he just couldn't stand it and he yelled somebody get me a sword.

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And they brought him a sword and as everybody froze to see what would happen next, he said Bailiff, take this sword and cut the child in two and give each mother a half.

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Share and share alike.

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We compromise and everybody wins a little and everybody loses a little, right?

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Well, the real mother cried out no, give him to her.

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I'd rather she get him than to see him die.

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And the other woman said yeah, that's right.

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You tell her king, neither one of us should get the whole thing.

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And Solomon awarded the child to the woman who was willing to give up her rights so that the child might live, because she was the boy's mother.

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The people were amazed with the discernment of Solomon.

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He was somebody to be trusted.

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He was somebody to look up to.

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He was worthy of service to because he was a just king.

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He had credibility with his people.

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Yeah, solomon's wisdom gave him credibility, first with Israel.

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Secondly, solomon's wisdom gave him fame and credibility with other countries, including the big powers like Egypt.

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You can look at 1 Kings 3.28.

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All Israel heard of the judgment which the king had rendered and they feared the king.

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It gave him credibility with other countries.

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This helped him secure his boundaries and expand his trade.

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His country prospered like no other time in history.

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Even the Queen of Sheba made her trip to hear the incredible wisdom that Solomon earned and gave him such fame.

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But Solomon didn't just rely on his own personal wisdom and decision-making.

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He gained credibility by utilizing the collective wisdom.

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He, just like his father David, surrounded himself with incredible men who gave him great counsel.

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He surrounded himself with men who loved God and who could offer insight and wisdom to all the situations that he faced.

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This was something that led to the downfall of Solomon's son, because his son didn't listen to the wisdom of others.

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He was too self-absorbed, too absorbed with all the pursuit of pleasure and power, including the worship of the false gods and idols.

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I've heard it say you can't kindle a fire in any other heart until it's burning within your own.

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Yeah, solomon reminds us of what should be the most important thing.

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Is God really and truly your burning desire?

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Do you truly want to know what God has to say?

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More than anything else, is the knowledge of his ways?

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Your greatest pleasure Is the blessing and peace that comes from following Jesus, the light of your life, peace that comes from following Jesus, the light of your life, or do other things compete for that spot.

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Sometimes we're just too consumed and too occupied with everything else, but God Is it any wonder that God isn't our first love?

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Is it any wonder when we can't seem to find the time to worship Jesus regularly?

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Yeah, is it any wonder that studying God's ways through his word fails to become a priority?

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Is it any wonder that all the problems and concerns and trials and tribulations of life overwhelm us?

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Solomon's response was to seek God's presence and power and direction.

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How about you?

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What response characterizes your life If you know that you fall short?

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What are you going to do about it?

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You don't have to stay where you're at and God doesn't want you to.

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But what's it going to be?

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Are you going to step up or are you going to step out?

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Kindle the fire in your own heart, beginning with your own prayer of commitment to Jesus.

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Hey, you don't know how much I appreciate you listening to this podcast, and if you're listening and you're regular do you know that I have a second podcast?

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It's called Wisdom for the Day?

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You can find it at wisdomforthedayorg or right here.

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Wherever you're listening to this podcast, just do a search for Wisdom for the Day.

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It's basically a daily podcast from the book of Proverbs.

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I read about two verses a day and do a deep dive on those two verses.

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Now, when you say deep dive on two verses, it's only going to be about five or six minutes, so you don't have to devote your whole life to another podcast.

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As much as I appreciate you listening to this one, I really want you to listen to the next one and I don't want to take up all your time.

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So give me five minutes.

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That's wisdomforthedayorg.

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I love you, see, ya, let me finish up this little Solomon biography that I started with His slide away from God and it was a slide it probably began innocently enough.

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He knew that if he took the daughter of Pharaoh as his wife, it would amount to a fail-safe peace treaty with Egypt.

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I mean, in the beginning Solomon may have rationalized.

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You know, maybe in time she'll realize that Yahweh is the one and only true God.

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In the meantime, I'm going to continue worshiping Yahweh.

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So then she can worship her own gods.

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But as time passed, solomon took more and more foreign women as wives.

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He started to worship Astarte, goddess of the Sidonians, and the Milcom, the Ammonite god.

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Eventually he built shrines to foreign gods on the mountain east of Jerusalem.

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Solomon's moral breakdown was devastating, and God declared that because of Solomon's sin, only one Israeli tribe would be passed on to his son, and even this concession would be for David's sake, not Solomon's.

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There was no clear evidence that Solomon ever fully repented of his sin, but if he is actually the one that authored Ecclesiastes, he finally appeared to realize the total futility of life without God, and he summarized it by saying the end of the matter is this fear God and keep his commandments, for that is the whole duty of man, for God will bring every deed into judgment, including every secret, whether good or evil.

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That's Ecclesiastes 12, 13.

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Well, that's all for this week's show.

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You know, the name of this show speaks my hope for you.

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It's taken from the words of Romans, chapter 12, verse 2.

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Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind that, by testing, you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

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Send them a link and a text.

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I just might play it on a future episode.

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Until next week.

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I'm Rick.

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I love you, see ya.

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The intro and outro music for the Renewed Mindsets podcast is Are you Ready?

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By Floodgate From the album Are you Ready?

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By Floodgate From the album Are you Ready?

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Copyright 2002, offbeat Ministries Incorporated Floodgate can be found on Apple Music and iTunes Music used with permission.

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I'm