Episode Transcript
WEBVTT
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So this evening I'm going to do
things just a little differently. The goal
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here, we will see if I
can accomplish it, is long text,
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short sermon. I will see how
that goes. But I want to begin
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by just introducing the text a little
bit, by by reminding you of something
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that's probably true for all of us. When I was a child, I
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love to pretend to be a king
and I think less your lady. That's
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probably true of all of us.
The the old king and Princess Game,
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as my father and sister used to
play or I play with my kids,
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is very common, strange for American
children, I think, but nevertheless we
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do it. But what if it
wasn't to pretend? That's my question for
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you. What if you really really
had to be a king or a queen?
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What kind would you be? Would
you be good or bad? Would
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you be cruel or kind, rich
or poor? Would you be wise?
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Would you be foolish? Now I
know what all what kind of King or
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queen you would like to be,
but that's not my question. My question
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is, what kind of King or
Queen would you be? It take an
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inventory of your skills in trade,
politics, national security and all the rest
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how? How would you do?
How would you fair in ruling your people?
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I suspect that most of us would
do a fairly poor job. This
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is the way it goes. Not
all of us are born to be those
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kind of leaders, and that's fine. The reason I ask you this question
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want you to sort of imagine this
for a moment, is as we hear
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now about King Solomon, the summary
of his reign and the end of it
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in particular, I want you to
be amazed at how successful Solomon was at
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every level, whether it was a
political power and influence, his wisdom,
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his wealth. Solomon is a king
who would become one of the most famous
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kings of all history, and certainly
of Israel, but even outside of Israel
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as well. He is a synonymous
with what it means to be a great
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king. So I want you to
pay attention to that as we hear the
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Chronicler sum up Solomon's reign, and
we're going to hear that by hearing two
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chapters of the Bible, I'm second
chronicles, Chapter Eight and chapter nine,
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and as much as you possibly can, I want you to listen and carefully.
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I want you to imagine the details
of what the chronicler is telling us
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about this king's reign. So let's
give our attention to God's word now in
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second chronicles, beginning at Chapter Eight, at the end of twenty years in
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which Solomon had built the House of
the Lord and his own house, Solomon
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Rebuilt the cities that Hiram had given
to him and settled the people of Israel
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in them. And Solomon went to
Hamath Zobah and took it. He built
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Tad more in the Wilderness and all
the store cities that he built, and
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in Hamath he also built Upper Beth
harn and lower Beth Haron, fortified cities
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with walls, Gates and bars and
bottle off and all the store cities that
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Solomon had and all the cities for
his chariots and the cities for his horsemen
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and whatever Solomon desired to build in
Jerusalem, at Lebanon and in all the
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land of his dominion. All the
people who were left of the Hittites,
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the Amorites, the parasites, the
Hivites and the jebusites, who were not
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of Israel, from their descendants who
were left after them in the land whom
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the people of Israel had not destroyed
these Solomon drafted as forced labor, and
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so they are to this day.
But of the people of Israel, Solomon
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made no slaves for his work.
They were soldiers and his officers, the
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commanders of his chariots and his horsemen, and these were the chief officers of
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King Solomon, two hundred and fifty, who exercised authority over the people.
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Solomon brought Pharaoh's daughter up from the
city of David to the House that he
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had built for her, for he
said, my wife shall not live in
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the House of David, King of
Israel, for the places to which the
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Ark of the Lord has come our
holy. Then Solomon offered up burnt offerings
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to the Lord on the altar of
the Lord that he had built before the
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vestibule, as the duty of each
day required according offering, according to the
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commandment of Moses, for the Sabbaths, the new moons and the three annual
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feasts, the Feast of unloven bread, the Feast of weeks and the Feast
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of booths. According to the ruling
of David, his father, he appointed
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the divisions of the priests for their
service in the Levites, for their offices
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of praise and ministry, before the
priests, as the duty of each day
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required, and the gatekeepers and their
divisions at each gate, for so David,
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the man of God, had commanded, and they did not turn aside
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from what the king had commanded,
the priests and Levites concerning any matter and
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concerning the treasuries. Thus was accomplished
all the work of Solomon, from the
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day the foundation of the House of
the Lord was laid until it was finished.
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So the House of the Lord was
completed. Then Solomon went to Azion,
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Geber and eloth on the shore of
the sea, and to the land
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of Edom and Hiram sent to him
by the hand of his servants, ships
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and servants familiar with the sea,
and they went to ophier together with the
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servants of Solomon, and brought from
their four hundred and fifty talents of gold
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and brought it to King Solomon.
Now, when the Queen of Sheba heard
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of the fame of Solomon, she
came to Jerusalem to test him with hard
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questions, having a very great retinue
and camels bearing spices and very much gold
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and precious stones. And when she
came to Solomon, she told him all
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that was on her mind and Solomon
answered all her questions. There was nothing
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hidden from Solomon that he could not
explain to her. And when the Queen
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of Sheba had seen the wisdom of
Solomon, in the House that he had
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built, the food of his table, the seating of his officials and the
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attendance of his service servants and their
clothing, his cut bears and their clothing
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and his burnt offerings that he offered
at the House of the Lord, there
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is no more breath in her.
And she said to the king, the
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report was true that I heard in
my own land of your words and of
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your wisdom, but I did not
believe the reports until I came and my
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own eyes had seen it. And
behold, half the greatness of your wisdom
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was not told to me. You
surpassed the report that I heard. Happy,
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are your wives happy? Are Those
your servants who continually stand before you
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and hear your wisdom? Blessed be
the Lord, your God, who has
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delighted in you and set you on
his throne. Is King for the Lord
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your God, because your God loved
Israel and would establish them forever, he
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has made you king over them that
you may execute justice and righteousness. Then
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she gave the king a hundred and
twenty talents of gold and a very great
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quantity of spices and precious stones.
There were no spices such as those that
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the Queen of Sheba gave to King
Solomon. Moreover, the servants of Hiram
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and the servants of Solomon, who
brought gold from othear, brought Algamwood and
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precious stones, and the king made
from the algamwood supports for the House of
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the Lord and for the King's House, Liars also, and harps for the
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singers. There never was seen the
like of them before in the land of
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Judah, and King Solomon gave to
the Queen of Sheba all that she desired,
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whatever she asked, besides what she
had brought to the king. So
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she turned and went back to her
own land with her servants. Now the
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weight of gold that came to Solomnon
in one year was six hundred and sixty
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six talents of gold, besides that
which the explorers and merchants brought, and
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all the Kings of Arabia and the
governors of the land brought gold and silver
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to Solomon. King Solomon made two
hundred large shields of beaten gold. Six
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hundred shekels of beaten gold, with
went to each into each shield shield,
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and he made three hundred shields of
beaten gold, three hundred shekels of gold
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women to each shield, and the
king put them in the House of the
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forest of Lebanon. The king also
made a great ivory throne and overlaid it
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with pure gold. The throne had
six steps and a footstool of gold which
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were attached to the throne, and
on each side of the seat were armrests
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and two lions standing beside the arm
rests, while twelve lions stood there,
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one on each end of a step
of the six steps. Nothing like it
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was ever made for any kingdom all
kings. Solomon's drinking vessels were of gold
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and the vessels of the House of
the forest of Lebanon were of pure gold.
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Silver was not considered as anything in
the days of Solomon, for the
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king's ships went to tarshish with the
servants of Hiram once every three years.
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The ships of Starshus tarshish used to
come bringing gold, silvery ivory, apes
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and peacocks. Thus King Solomon Excelled
all the kings of the earth in riches
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and in wisdom, and all the
kings of the Earth sought the presence of
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Solomon to hear his wisdom which God
had put into his mind. Every one
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of them brought his present articles of
silver and of gold, garments, mers
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spices, horses and mules, so
much, year by year, and Solomon
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had four thousand stalls for horses and
Chariots and twelve thousand horsemen whom he stationed
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in the chariot cities and with the
king of Jerus and with the king in
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Jerusalem. And he ruled over all
the kings from the Euphrates to the land
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of the Philistines and to the border
of Egypt. And the king made silver
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as common in Jerusalem as stone,
and he made Cedar as plentiful as the
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Sycamore of the Shefelah. And the
horses were imported for Solomon from Egypt and
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from all lands. Now the rest
of the acts of Solomon, from first
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to last, are they not written
in the history of Nathan the Prophet,
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and then the prophecies of a he'Sah, the Sheilanite, and in the visions
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of Edo the seer concerning Jeribalum,
the son of Nibot? Solomon reigned in
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Jerusalem, over all Israel, forty
years and Solomon slept with his father's and
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was buried in the city of David, his father and ray a bone,
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his son, reigned in his place. So you see what I mean.
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It's fantastic, it's spectacular. I
would love to see some picture of this
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or to experience that. The chronicler
has given us this spectacular summary. Forget
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about being king for a moment and
imagine what it would be like to be
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a subject of someone like this,
or a trading partner or a foreign dignitary,
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or like this queen of Sheba,
place very far from Israel, or
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even a slave. Now, of
course we know that things weren't perfect in
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Israel. Life was hard. There
are hints of this even here, as
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we read of Solomon's many wives,
of a of a princess, of his
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queen coming from Egypt, and our
eyebrows go up a little bit. But
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nevertheless they're all put in this very
positive light. The best way that they
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could be understood is is pointed out, not to excuse them, but to
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really show how glorious Solomon was.
This king, or the kings of this
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world, I'm do not come close
to this and in all this we see
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that he was truly blessed by God. It's not stated over and over and
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over again, as it is in
other sections, because here we have a
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listing of these things, but the
fact that God is the giver of all
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of them is very clear and comes
out several times. The Queen of Sheba,
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herself a gentile, recognizes this,
recognizes that the wisdom he has,
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the gifts that he has, are
from God. Let's consider some of the
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details of the glory of Solomon.
First, there's the infrastructure of the kingdom
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and it's sovereignty. In first kings
we learned that some cities had been given
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to Hiram and possibly as collateral for
loans. But here in the Solomon's reign,
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and these is this summary is given
to us, we see that they
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seem to be coming back into his
hands. In Chapter Eight, versus,
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versus one and and two. There, furthermore, we see that these cities
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of Solomon are very strong. In
verses three through seven, even in far
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away places, saw aloman is able
to fortify and secure all that belongs to
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him. This is not always easy. Tucson, for example, and much
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of our history has been something of
a border town, a frontier kind of
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place that has changed hands and moved
in and out of various people's control,
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and it's hard to control what goes
on there. It's hard to manage what
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happens in a place like that.
But Solomon, even in the farthest reaches
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of his kingdom, has strength and
power. They very much belong to him.
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If you get a chance sometime to
look at a map of Solomon's kingdom
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and you see how far it really
went, it was never this big before
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and it would never be this big
again. So his infrastructure and the very
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borders of the land were strong and
big. And that leads into a second
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thing to notice. Just the security
of the nation. Israel was big,
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but it was also secure and throughout
Solomon's reign, Israel enjoyed a great peace
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with her neighbors. In fact,
Solomon's kingdom was more secure, was more
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than secure, it was famous within
the international community. Instead of trying,
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as we read through these verses,
instead of him trying to protect himself against
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these other nations, what do we
see? The Nation's coming into Israel,
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subjecting themselves to him, giving him
gifts instead of compelled to take what he
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has, they feel compelled to give
what they have. This is how great
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a Solomon is. He unlike David, who was constantly fighting battles, Solomon
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is not a warrior. His country
is strong and at peace. This leads
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to a third point. But today, the nation of Israel does not enjoy
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this kind of situation. She feels
threatened, constantly needing to be on guard
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from her neighbors, both near and
far. But during Solomon's reign, it
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seems like the world couldn't have been
happier with Israel, instead of being jealous
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and greedy about fertile land and constant
crops, coveting the important trade roots that
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ran along her borders, Israel became
one of the most important trading partners in
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the world, and Solomon took advantage
of this, and the economy grew.
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I'm according to some archeologist, there's
even evidence that the standard of living rose
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during this time. The visit of
the Queen of Sheba from such a far
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away place points to that Solomon is
getting supplies from far, far away,
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and he seems to be able to
work alongside people like the Queen of Sheba
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or the king of tire. The
hium, he has a relation somehow with
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Egypt, and that they would give
to him. There there are queen,
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this princess and Queen. Israel is
acting in an advantaged position on the world's
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stage. But it wasn't all about
money and power. Solomon was also getting
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things right on the spiritual front as
well, as we discussed a little bit
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in Sunday school this morning. There
are other times when Israel was wealthy,
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but we're spiritually all wrong. Not
So in Solomon's reign. He does well
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on this point as well. As
a comment in the ESV Study Bible points
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out, it wasn't until the temple
was actually an operation that the chronicle oiler
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finally considers it done Solomon. For
Solomon, it wasn't just important to build
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the thing, it was to see
it working, to see the sacrifices made
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and the priests in place. He
even says, and it points out several
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times, that he does this according
to the Commands of Moses, according to
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the Commands of David. Finally,
finally, of course, there is Solomon's
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great wealth. And what more could
be said? The chapters there have made
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it very plain. This was a
wonderful place, a beautiful place, fine
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treasures, even animals are listed here. Imports from all over the world,
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their wealth growing and growing, and
Solomon's wisdom growing and growing, and the
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religious a worship of the people growing
and growing, God pouring out all these
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blessings on Solomon. This country was
safe, it was important, it was
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famous, it was wealthy, it
was respected and it was living right before
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the Lord. Well, we consider
the glory of Solomon and we will continue
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to exercise our minds in this way. As we read the chronicles, we
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have to think about how this compares
to our King. Perhaps, at least
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as Christians, this is one we
reason we keep playing king and Queen,
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because we do belong to a kingdom, we do have a king who is
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over us, who rules us,
and so it's very natural for us to
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think, well, how does the
King of Israel and this olden days King
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Solomon, compared to our king and
the kingdom that we belong to, namely
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the Kingdom of God and and King
Jesus? What we find is that,
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as splendid as Solomon was, he
doesn't even begin to compare. How can
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you say that? When many people
think of Jesus, they don't think of
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him as a king first of all, and certainly I don't think of him
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as a King like Solomon. You
may remember that when they nailed Jesus to
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the cross, they also nailed a
sign to the cross that mocked him and
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made fun of him, saying King
of the Jews. When people think of
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Christians, they don't think of powerful, wealthy, famous, politically connected people.
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When the world thinks of Christians,
they think of backwards people, Awkward
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People, strange people, loyal perhaps, but wrongly so, sometimes even a
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burden and a danger to the communities
way of life. In fact, people
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crucify Christians just like they crucified their
king. So how can I say that
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Solomon doesn't? Solomon, in his
glory doesn't even begin to compare to Jesus.
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Well, the first reason is that
there truly is great glory in his
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kingdom, even though it's not always
outward and visible in the forms that we
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would usually expect in our time.
In this period of grace before the day
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of the Lord comes, much of
the glory of the Lord and his kingdom
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is hidden. It's found in unexpected
and humble places. We might call the
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Kingdom of Heaven, as it is
right now. The Kingdom of the Cross.
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That's how where characterized. Instead of
wielding the sword, we find Christians
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wash washing feet, instead of executing
justice, we see them turning the other
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cheek. And yet, even though
the glory is hidden, I do think
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you can see it and you can
hear it. Take, for example,
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a prisoner that I had the opportunity
to disciple for a while, a man
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here in the Tucson a federal prison
who had done terrible things to his children,
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but by the grace of God and
the Holy Spirit that had come into
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his heart and changed him and brought
him to true humility and repentance and faith,
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I found that sitting across from this
man, I found a very serious
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and devoted Christian man who is broken
by his sins and in love with the
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Lord Jesus, a man who talked
about his past and present and hopes,
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all in terms of his faith,
a man who struggled still but was most
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certainly a man with Christ. Is
that not a glorious thing? Of course
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it is. When we look at
our own lives. Perhaps some of you
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have became Christians later in life,
and you see the change that happened and
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the glory that is attached to that. How of loving God can take things
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that are broken and corrupt and make
them new. I have to ask,
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is that not a glorious thing?
And I think it's even more than that.
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It's not just glorious, but it's
even more glorious. Compare the two.
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External peace and good crops in the
field or internal peace with God and
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the bouncilful fruit of the Holy Spirit. What's better? Pomegranates and olives and
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grapes or love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness
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and self control? Which would you
rather have? which more truly speaks to
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the glories of the Kingdom of God? And we see that, sure,
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in a hidden way and in a
broken way and in an incomplete way in
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our lives, but they're nevertheless.
You could think of the glory of Christ
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also in terms of its extent,
not only its effect in our lives,
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but it's extent. The Kingdom of
God is found throughout the world, behind
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prisoned walls and in houses and in
steepled churches. The word of God and
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the glory of Christ penetrates the most
impenetrable forces and even the hardest of our
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hearts. Is that not glorious.
Solomon's kingdom was indeed big, but it
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doesn't worldwide as the Lord Jesus's is. You can see the glory of Christ's
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kingdom also, I think, in
the humble means by which it comes.
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It's not the flashing sword which accomplishes
this change, but it is the Gospel,
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the preaching of the word. That
is the power of God, unto
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salvation for those who believe it's the
word of God that makes a man,
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a woman, a child devote him
or herself, even unto death, to
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God, their savior. These are
some of the obvious glories of the Kingdom
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of Christ. Now they come in
a meek and a humble way, because
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that's how the king came, and
that's good news to us. It's good
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news because it means that the Lord
came in a gracious way, in a
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lowly way. It's good because it
means that the glory is a glory of
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grace. At the moment it's a
different kind of glory. It's a glory
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that means people like you and me
can belong. It means that we can
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come into the kingdom and belong to
Jesus and not be kicked out for not
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being glorious enough. Without the gracious
glory of God, you and I would
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never measure up, we would never
be good enough, we would be always
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outstanding outside and never in. But
there will be a time when this period
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of grace, when the glory of
grace, will come to an end and
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the glories of God and judgment and
consummation will come finally, and these are
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pictured throughout the Bible, partly here
and set second chronicles, but in other
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places as well. Even some of
the individual images that are address here in
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chronicles come up. Take the throne, for example, this amazing throne that
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Solomon builds. You remember it,
covered with made of ivory, covered with
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pure gold, two lions on either
side, with lions going down six steps.
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Beautiful, amazing. And yet how
does the Bible describe the throne of
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God? Surrounded not by statues of
Lions, but terrible and fearful, fearsome
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rather angels, myriads of Angels,
not twelve stone lions, but a hundred
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million angels ready to obey the Lord's
command. He stands there, he sits
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rather in heaven, in all his
glory and Awesomeness. Whenever the profits are
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given even a vision into this heavenly
throne room, they throw themselves down at
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his feet and wish to die.
It's that glorious. The Queen of Sheba
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is certainly not. I'm proud.
She's humble, she's thankful, she offers
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all kinds of gifts to Solomon,
she's amazed. No one would falter for
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her reaction, but she doesn't fall
down before his throne and wish her own
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death upon herself. She doesn't say
I'm a woman of Unclean Lips, but
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that's what the prophets say when they
see the kingdom, or rather the throne
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room, of God. And that's
a glory opened up to them and one
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day will be opened up to us
all, revealed on the last day,
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and then no one will ever doubt
whether the Kingdom of God is more glorious
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than the Kingdom of Solomon. Our
opportunity, though, here and now,
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at this moment, is to hear
a passage like this and to see two
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things. First, the blessings of
God that are poured out on this son
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of David, and to see also
in that a picture of the greater glory
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that God would pour out on Jesus
David's greater son. And when we hear
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that, let us be filled with
fear and awe in worship and not turn
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to him, or rather turn away
from him and despise him and be apathetic
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and not care, but to worship
and to give our gifts and to give
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ourselves fully and entirely unto him.
Let us trust him in this period of
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grace, while we still have it, and give all the glory to God.
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Let's pray
