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[0:00] All right, well, thank God for the blood that cleansed us of all of our sin.

[0:11] If the blood can't do it, then what can? If the blood of Jesus Christ cannot cleanse you of your sins, all of them, then what can?

[0:25] Your good life? Good luck with that. All right, so find 1 Kings chapter 2 this evening, 1 Kings chapter 2. Last Wednesday night, we studied some things about King David when he took the throne, and I called the message, Getting Off to a Good Start.

[0:51] And we realized that in life, there's seasons of change, and there's new beginnings with that change, and it's from your youthful years all the way toward the end of life.

[1:07] There can be changes, and there can be new beginnings at the same time. Some of those beginnings are brought on by what might be negative things, tragedies in life, when there's a split in a relationship, a divorce.

[1:21] God forbid, but when that happens, you're starting over, and you're going to start, and you want to get off to a good start when you do. There's cases where you lose a loved one, and now life has changed, and it's going to be forever different, and you want to get off to a good start.

[1:38] And sometimes it's even things that I mentioned last week, like going from high school to college. It's a new beginning, going from education to career. It's a new beginning, getting married.

[1:49] It's a new beginning, bringing children into your home. It's a new beginning. And there's many, many of them throughout life. And when these new beginnings happen, these seasons have changed, you want to get off to a good start because it's way better than, as they say, getting off on the wrong foot and learning from your mistakes and having to figure things out on the fly.

[2:07] Things that can be avoided ought to be avoided if possible. And you want to get off to a good start. And so what we learned from King David when he took that throne, three things I'll review with you briefly.

[2:18] Number one was we learned to wait on God's timing. In order to get off to a good start, you don't want to get ahead of God. You don't want to get frustrated with your situation and decide, I'm going to make a change myself because you might regret that.

[2:31] But when you're patient, and even as David, he was patient, and he endured some real afflictions in his life, and the whole time, as frustrated as he must have been, he decided, I'm going to trust God.

[2:44] I'm going to wait on God. I'm going to trust that he knows what's right, the timing is right, and I'm not going to get ahead of him. And he had opportunity to take care of King Saul more than once, even when his men wanted him to.

[2:55] But he refused. But he refused. And he decided to wait on God's timing. And so it's true for you to wait until the Lord begins to move. And be patient. And wait for his hand and for him to open your eyes to when it's right.

[3:09] If you get ahead of God's timing, you're going to find out why he was waiting. You don't need to do that. Number two, as we mentioned, to determine to be in God's presence.

[3:21] It was King David that as soon as he was made king, he said, Now, where's the ark of God? That thing needs to be here. And he brought the ark of God to his presence. And that was something that he decided as king to get off to a good start.

[3:35] I need to be in the presence of God. I need it with me everywhere. And I just read recently, I didn't even really notice this, or maybe didn't catch it before, that when David fled the throne from his son Absalom, some priest came with him bearing the ark.

[3:51] And he said, Take the ark back to Jerusalem. But you know what? Where the king went, the presence of God went. And he determined to be in God's presence in all avenues of life.

[4:02] And the application from that to get off to a good start, if it's going to take you away from the presence of God, if it's going to be a relationship or a job or a move or a new beginning of some sorts that's going to take you away from the people of God or away from your Bible reading or your prayer time and your walk with the Lord, it's not a good thing.

[4:22] You're not going to get off to a good start unless you're determined to stay in God's presence. And then the third thing we learned from David was, even when he brought that ark back, the first time he tried it, he didn't do it according to the word of God.

[4:35] He had some oxen pulling this on a cart. And that wasn't in the Bible. That wasn't God's prescription for that. And ended up finding out, matter of fact, this mistake of his brought on death, displeasure, it brought on dread.

[4:51] The Bible says he was afraid of the Lord that day. And it brought a delay of God's blessing because the thing ended up in Obed-Edom's place and he got blessings of God all that time that the ark wasn't with the king.

[5:03] And all of that terrible stuff could have been avoided if he would have sought and followed God's instructions found in God's word. And if you want to get off to a good start, then you better learn what the book says and seek after the Lord.

[5:16] David said that the reason this all happens is because we did not seek the Lord after due order. And the due order was written in the book the whole time. And he knew it. Now, all in all though, David did get off to a good start.

[5:31] And if we fast forward now this evening through the entirety of his kingdom, we come to the end of his life. Now he's got a son that's about to take the throne. And he's got a son named Solomon that's about to get off to a new beginning of his own.

[5:44] And the question is, Solomon, are you going to get off to a good start? You have opportunity to. Will you heed the things you know to do? The things that are right to do, will you do it?

[5:55] Now, you're in chapter 2 of 1 Kings. And this is a new beginning for Solomon. How's he going to handle it? The first nine verses of this chapter is David charging his son in what to do with the kingdom.

[6:13] And I won't read all these verses. We've got to cover this whole chapter and then some. And so, just going to kind of skim a few points. But in verse number 2, David says to his son, I go the way of all the earth.

[6:24] Be thou strong, therefore, and show thyself a man and keep the charge of the Lord thy God to walk in his ways, to keep his statutes, his commandments, and his judgments, his testimony, as it is written in the law of Moses.

[6:36] And as he charges his son to take heed to these things, he moves down through a few specific points. Verse number 5, he says, Moreover thou knowest also what Joab, the son of Zariah, did to me, and what he did to the two captains of the host of Israel, and to Abner, the son of Ner, and unto Amasa, the son of Jether.

[6:54] And then a little bit later, he talks about a man named Barzillai, the Gileadite, one of his friends. And then in verse 8, he talks about a man named Shimei, the son of Gerah, Benjaminite, which cursed me with a grievous curse.

[7:06] And he's telling his son, you know what you ought to do. You're going to have some business you need to take care of. And so David gave him a charge of what he ought to do. But the question I have, Solomon, is what will you do?

[7:18] Because in verse number 12, take a look at verse 12 of chapter 2, Then sat Solomon upon the throne of David his father. Now the choice is his to make now.

[7:31] He's on the throne. No more dad. David's gone on the way of all the earth. He's gone to be in Abraham's bosom, in paradise. And now it's Solomon's throne.

[7:41] And the voice of his father, he'll never hear another day of his life. There is nobody that has power like he has in this moment. What will you do, Solomon? Will you get off to a good start or not?

[7:53] And let's study that tonight. Because as rain begins, and it's so important to get off to a good start. So let's pray. Father, please, Lord, speak to our hearts in this time and use these men and their stories, their examples, as you put them in this book and retain them for our learning.

[8:11] So, Lord, may we learn. Lord, don't let anybody leave here tonight without learning from the word of God. And, Lord, I pray that these things we could apply. Help me to be clear, be preached, this truth and to deliver it the way you see fit.

[8:23] We ask this in Jesus' name for his sake alone. Amen. Amen. Now, Solomon's reign begins. Right here we are. We're going to see this new king.

[8:34] He has much opportunity in front of him. What's he going to do with it? Well, we want to get off to a good start, Solomon. So here's what we want to do. From verse 13 to the end of the chapter, verse 46, it's covering one little thing after another that he has to take care of.

[8:53] And the first thing that I want to point out that Solomon does here in taking the throne is that he fixes these small issues before they ever become big problems. He takes care of these little things that his dad was telling him about and there they exist and they're not huge and they're not in his face and they're not threatening the throne or the kingdom, but they're there.

[9:13] And if he doesn't handle them now, I guarantee, he and he knows very much so, they're going to be big in the future. Let's take a look at a few of these because ideally as a king in any situation, you want to, in a fresh start, you want a clean slate, right?

[9:28] You want to, you don't want to have to enter it with baggage. You want a clean slate, a fresh start. But it's not always the case and in Solomon's case, there was issues that were presented to him that they just, he inherited these things.

[9:44] He didn't cause any of them. He just sat on the throne and boom, like popcorn popping up, there's problems or there's these little issues we'll call them to start.

[9:56] He could ignore them and just think, well, you know, that'll work itself out and maybe they will. But most likely in these cases, what we read, they won't.

[10:07] And so Solomon has to attempt to fix it. So first thing we see is this man named Adonijah in verse 13. Adonijah, you notice verse 13.

[10:17] Adonijah is the son of Haggai. That's one of David's wives. This man is a brother or a half brother to Solomon. And Adonijah is a small issue, number one.

[10:31] He's an ambitious half brother that made an attempt on the throne before Solomon got it. You could just look back a few chapters and read on your own time. You'll see that before David died, Adonijah said, I'm going to be king.

[10:44] And he got a following after him, as a matter of fact. And they came to David and said, David, did you say that Adonijah was going to be king? He said, I didn't say that. Well, I better get Solomon on the throne quickly before this gets any worse.

[10:58] Adonijah is an ambitious half brother that is not innocent. He made an attempt on taking the kingdom and it failed. So he waited until his dad died. And when dad's dead, Solomon's his brother, his half brother, surely doesn't respect him to be the king.

[11:16] Matter of fact, that kingdom was mine. I could taste it. I was so close to it. And now Solomon's got it. And he makes a move here to take this woman to be his wife, Abishag, that had a connection to David.

[11:30] And he goes to, in verse 13, he came to Bathsheba, the mother of Solomon. It's not even his mother. It's Solomon's mother. And tries to talk to her and gets her involved in the situation.

[11:41] And she asked him in verse 13, comest thou peaceably? Because she didn't trust him. And she knows, and Solomon knows, this man's a snake. He's no good. And he's up to no good.

[11:53] And I'm not going to go through much more of this, but just point out that this guy shows up and he's a problem. And just a few verses later, he's dead. Because you know what? Solomon handled the problem.

[12:05] He handled this little issue that cropped up right away before it ever became a big problem. Then the next guy you see in verse 26 is Abiathar the priest. And Abiathar, unto Abiathar the priest, said the king, in verse 26, get thee to Anathoth.

[12:23] He said, get out of here, Abiathar, unto thine own vineyards, for thou art worthy of death. And I'm not going to put you to death. I'll kill you right now. But, because you've been through some stuff with my dad.

[12:35] But it says in verse 27, Solomon thrust out Abiathar from being priest unto the Lord. Now Abiathar went with Adonijah. When he tried to take the kingdom, Abiathar said, yeah, I'm with you.

[12:46] And he betrayed David. He was an untrustworthy priest. He betrayed David's throne and Solomon, his successor, and supported the wrong one. And so he said, you're guilty and you're worthy of death and you know it.

[13:01] And I'm going to have mercy on you because of your relationship with my father. You've been through some things. But you're out. And he handled it. In verse 28, here's Joab.

[13:12] I think if you know the story with David and his life and his dealings, his wars, his battles, you know Joab. Captain of his army, of his host. But Joab had some problems.

[13:23] And David brought that up like we read it earlier in chapter number two. Moreover, Joab, look at verse 28, then tidings came to Joab for Joab had turned after Adonijah, though he turned not after Absalom.

[13:36] So Joab's guilty too. Not only of being a guilty captain and of turning after the wrong king, but also of shedding innocent blood like David said during his lifetime.

[13:47] There's a man that must be held accountable for his actions. And so Solomon, you inherited this one. You're going to have to take care of it too. And he does in a few verses.

[13:59] Verse number 34, he's dead and he's buried. And so he replaces these men in verse 35 with trustworthy men.

[14:10] And then there's one more guy. At the end of this chapter from verse 36 to 46, you see Shimei. And you maybe remember we've read his name a few times recently in some previous studies on Wednesday night here.

[14:22] This man cursed the king with a grievous curse. When David was running from Absalom, he came out kicking Dustin here and throwing rocks at him and cursing him to his face and even falsely accusing him and the whole story you can read.

[14:37] And Shimei here has an opportunity to get by. He has an ultimatum and he messes up. He's an unruly and an insubordinate citizen that cursed, openly cursed, David his father when he was king.

[14:52] And if he'll do it to David, you can believe he'll do it to Solomon. And so he's dead by the end of the chapter. And look at verse number 46.

[15:03] Come all the way to the end of the chapter. Look at the last sentence of that verse where the Bible says, and the kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon. He's getting off to a good start.

[15:16] It's not an easy one because he inherited some issues. But in order to get off to the good start, he had to deal with these issues. He had to put them to bed forever, permanently fix these things because they weren't going to go away on their own.

[15:29] No doubt they'd have gotten worse. What I think was a headache for David could have been a major heartache for Solomon had he not gotten off to such a good start and handled it.

[15:41] Because he did, the kingdom was established. Think about it. If you want to buy a house, you don't want to buy a fixer-upper and not fixer-up. You're going to be in a mess.

[15:54] And if you purchase a property or inherit a property, whatever the case is, and there's things that are wrong with it, you could say, well, it's not that big a deal. It's just a pipe that's just leaking a little bit.

[16:05] But you let that pipe leak long enough, you're going to have a flood on your hands down the road somewhere if you don't fix it right away. The best thing to do is fix the problems before, fix the issues before they become big problems.

[16:19] And that's what Solomon did. He inherited some issues when he sat on this throne. Now what about you? How can we apply this thought to your life tonight? You want to get off to a good start?

[16:31] Get some new beginnings in your life? You want to begin with a clean slate, do you? Well, sometimes you just can't start fresh like that. Sometimes problems from the past come on and move themselves into the present.

[16:47] The best thing you can do in that case is to fix it. Forgive and forget and to move on and don't carry unnecessary baggage into new relationships and to new beginnings.

[16:59] It's going to take some honesty and some courage to identify certain problems and work at fixing them or correct them.

[17:10] If they've been problematic in the past, chances are there are going to be issues in the present. And learn from your mistakes. Oh, may God help us to learn from our mistakes and not carry them forward in life.

[17:24] Fix them before they get to become real damage. The small issues. Don't carry them over. Don't let them become part of your new kingdom. Don't let them grow worse and cause more damage.

[17:39] It could be bitterness. It could be fear. It could be a past getting burned in something and then never trusting anybody in the future or taking it out on a new relationship or a new person.

[17:50] Painful memories, past mistakes. Solomon grew stronger because he handled those issues that he was dealt with and he cleared them out.

[18:01] And now he could start with a clean slate. It's the way to have a good start. You want to get off to a good start then learn to do that. Fix the small issues before they become big problems or you'll regret it when you don't.

[18:14] Now there's something else I want you to see about Solomon's start. Look at chapter 3 and look down into verse number 3. The Bible says, And Solomon loved the Lord walking in the statutes of David his father.

[18:29] Walking in the statutes of David his father. Second thing I want to say to get off to a good start is to follow godly examples that are before you.

[18:41] Now you might say, Well I don't have any godly examples before me. I didn't have a saved dad or I didn't come from a godly home or I didn't grow up in church and if that's the case then I'll adjust it and say then find godly examples to follow because they're there.

[18:56] David was, I want to, don't take this wrong but David was a tough king to follow. I would say that because David was loved by everybody. David was brave.

[19:09] I mean he did slay the giant. All the kids know David's name and the women still probably know the song that they sang when he was young. David was loved. David was popular.

[19:20] David was strong. He was feared. He was talented. He was good looking. He was godly like nobody else. That book has this to say about one man.

[19:32] He was a man after God's own heart. There's only one person in the history of the human race that that's ever been recorded about in the scriptures. So, you go ahead and fill his shoes.

[19:46] That's a little bit intimidating, don't you think, to fill those shoes to be the king behind that great man? But while you could look at it and say, I'll never amount to that, what a great example to learn from and to emulate.

[20:02] Solomon, you don't have to rewrite the book. Just do what your dad did all those years. Follow his instruction. Follow in his footsteps. Follow godly examples before you.

[20:14] It says that Solomon loved the Lord. How's that? Walking in the statutes of David his father. You want to get off to a good start? Then look at godly men and women that are successful in their Christian lives and learn how to follow their example.

[20:31] The young person is going to be tempted to be their own person, to be independent, to do it their own way. I can just rewind in my mind back to my stupid young adult life and think those same dumb thoughts of I'm not going to be like my dad.

[20:50] That's the last person I'm going to be like. I'm going to be this way. When I have kids, I'm going to be this way. And boy, did it just take a few years to wake up a little bit by little bit and start to have kids and realize, oh my God, I don't want to be that guy I thought I wanted to be.

[21:08] It'd be a terrible mess if it was. I'd be a real fool to abandon any example that I had in my life. So the young man like Solomon's son, Rehoboam, perfect example, tempted to do it their own way.

[21:24] And maybe David's success was intimidating to Solomon. Maybe that, because you can even read it in a moment, just he knows he's not his dad. He knows he's nothing like him.

[21:35] And aspiring to be like him was probably enough, but the temptation is going to be to be different. And all that would be is asking for trouble. I was talking to Jared Pilkington a few days ago and he made a, I don't know where this came up, but he made a comment that he was talking to a friend of his there in Pensacola and the guy said something to the effect of it's kind of mean, and this is in jest, but it's kind of mean of the Lord that he made it so that you make the biggest decisions for your life when you're absolutely the stupidest adult you'll ever be.

[22:09] When you're young, you're making these major life decisions of potentially of schooling, which avenue to take, a road that could lead you way over here versus way over here.

[22:21] You're making decisions about a career. You're making decisions about a spouse that should be lifelong till death do us part. And all the while you're the dumbest adult that you're ever going to be.

[22:33] And it's kind of a funny thought. And I don't want to say that God is mean in that way, but I would look at it differently and spiritually speaking and say, no, God fixed it so that you don't have to make those decisions alone.

[22:49] God fixed it so that you have godly examples to follow and to imitate and to learn of their good choices and what worked for them and what didn't work for them. When my wife or when I talk in the house and from time to time make comments about mistakes that we made in our life, we're not saying them so that our kids could laugh at us.

[23:09] Or could think, oh yeah, that sounds like... No, we're saying them so that they can hear and say, don't do that. Don't follow that. You could avoid this whole four-year situation if you avoid even stepping that direction.

[23:25] They've got examples they can follow and so do you. And something else you need to learn to do is to hear the voice of God and to have him move and direct you in your own heart.

[23:38] Now Solomon had a choice. He could make this kingdom his own. He could be independent. He could be this new generation of leadership. Or he could approach these monumental decisions that he faced on a daily basis humbly and fearfully and determine, I want to do what's right.

[23:57] Like a man that he knew very well. That was a man after God's own heart. Look at chapter 11. We're going to come back to 1 Kings 3 but look at chapter 11.

[24:09] I believe God gives everybody the right examples to follow if they choose to. And here's a case of this when Solomon's son Rehoboam messed up and God said that's it I'm splitting this kingdom and I'm going to give ten tribes to Jeroboam and just two here down here to Rehoboam and here's what he said to Jeroboam.

[24:31] 1 Kings chapter 11. And in verse number 35 he said I'll take the kingdom out of his son's hand speaking of Solomon's son's hand and we'll give it unto thee even ten tribes and unto his son will I give one tribe that David my servant may have a light always before me in Jerusalem the city which I've chosen to put my name there and I will take thee Jeroboam I will take thee God promising offering a pledge to this man a covenant I will take thee and thou shalt reign according to all that thy soul desires thou shalt be king over Israel and it shall be if thou wilt hearken unto all that I command thee and will walk in my ways and do that which is right in my sight to keep my statutes and my commandments notice this as David my servant did that I will be with thee and build thee a sure house as I built for David and will give Israel unto thee that's an amazing promise that God's offering this man he rejected it he blew it he had no interest in it he chose not to take that but what he had offered and promised to David he promised the same thing to Jeroboam and over a larger kingdom as much but the point I'm showing you here is what did he say to Jeroboam you know the example

[25:53] I want you to follow David my servant you do just like he did did Jeroboam was that his dad no was that his grandfather no but God gave him that example too and it's recorded the example that David was in the scriptures so he expected Jeroboam to follow David's godly example and if you don't have a dad or you don't have a a man in your life or in your upbringing that was pointing you to Jesus Christ and drilling the scripture into you and helping you walk in the ways of God you can find an example you can find them here in a local church you can find them in the word of God you'll find the examples you need God retained them for you if you want to get off to a good start then you better find somebody who did it right and learn to follow after them when we read history we read through these kings in this book here that they some of them it says they walked after the ways of the kings of Israel some of them it says they followed after the ways of Ahab and picked names and men that made Israel to sin and they followed them instead those examples some of them even followed the pattern their kingdoms and worship and things against the heathen nations that surrounded them nothing like David nothing like the godly example they followed someone's example and they could have followed the right one and if you make a decision to walk away from God in your life you're following somebody's example there's always somebody that's influencing you now to get off to a good start let's stay there look to godly examples and follow them and be quick to ask for advice be quick to ask for counsel and for prayer don't be afraid to ask those questions that's good stuff that shows that you've got a wise heart when you're seeking to an older man or an older woman and asking for advice and asking for counsel asking for direction and asking for prayer that's wisdom there a fool says

[28:00] I'll do what I want I'm smarter than you anyway yeah we'll see you won't get off to a good start what you'll do is you'll have to make some mistakes you'll have to reap what you sow and we'll all watch it and we'll be sad for you but you won't get off to a good start so this advice here the you know what else you get counsel from somebody the counsel that you get from that person is going to match the life of the one giving it in other words what I mean is if they're not a godly person they'll give you counsel alright they'll tell you the world will tell you just you know live your life man get out there and do it do what your heart tells you to do a godly Christian will say don't do what your heart tells you to do but if you ask counsel elsewhere you'll get counsel and it'll match the one giving it to you so set the bar high to get the best counsel to get the best advice set the bar high search out somebody spiritual somebody that loves God and you know it so Solomon walks with the Lord here and then the Lord appears to him in chapter 3 verse 5 in a dream in Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night and look at this

[29:27] God said ask what I shall give thee now God has never said that to me not that I know of I don't guess he said it to too many people at all but here he shows up to Solomon and what an interesting thing I mean we won't even be able to talk about this but it intrigues me to consider that he showed up in a dream and this is he picked him nobody else in the Bible like that where God says just ask me for anything and I'll give it to you why why Solomon why not David why not Saul why not Moses why not Joshua but here's Solomon getting this vision or this dream getting God making an offer to him so God appears to him and his reply displays more evidence that this man is getting off to a good start I want you to see clear closely here verse number 6 through 8 let's read these

[30:27] Solomon said thou hast showed unto thy servant David my father great mercy according as he walked before thee in truth and in righteousness and in uprightness of heart with thee and thou hast kept for him this great kindness that thou hast given him a son to sit on his throne as it is this day and now O Lord my God thou hast made thy servant king instead of David my father and notice what Solomon thinks about himself in verse 7 he says and I am but a little child I know not how to go out or come in that's a reference to leading a nation in battle in verse 8 and thy servants in the midst of thy people which thou hast chosen a great people that cannot be numbered nor counted for multitude now before he even gives the request to God in verse 9 something I see in Solomon here in the way he talks about himself that displays he's getting off to a good start is that he fears making mistakes he looks at himself as a little child he didn't see himself as nearly as great as his father not capable of leading God's people his great people

[31:43] I have no experience in battle or war how am I going to lead this great people how am I going to judge them how am I going to sit on this throne and know what I'm doing at all my father oh he was a great man he fought the battles he won victories he defeated the giant everybody knows about his I mean he's a mighty man of war people feared him but me I've never done anything in my life I'm a little child I don't know how to fight battles what am I going to do and I think he had a little insecurity there which is good he was afraid he feared making mistakes and so what he asked for he was very deliberate in what he asked for and what he knew that he needed the most and when you fear you'll proceed with caution when you have a healthy fear inside of you of what you're not or I can't handle this

[32:52] I'm not big enough for this I know I'm not when you're honest about that and have that fear you'll be less apt to make mistakes because you're aware of the potential you have for mistakes because you don't know what you're doing the Bible says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of what?

[33:13] Wisdom that's what he wants and fear's a good thing I remember when Carla and I became new parents and we were just kids we were 27 so we weren't kids but we felt like kids and we didn't feel like we knew anything about anything and her as a mother you know afraid she's going to break the thing the kid the baby and listening to make sure he's still breathing you know those remember those moments your first kid just the first one you're afraid you just don't know what you're doing and I remember even we went home with this newborn baby and it was almost like are you guys going to let us walk out of the hospital with this thing by ourselves?

[34:09] there's just this feeling of we've never done this before you do know that and of course they probably pumped a bunch of fear in us too about killing the kid with laying it over or putting a blanket in it all that stuff but nevertheless I can remember that fear inside of me of being a father and of the tremendous responsibility because I knew that this little tiny thing was going to not be so tiny in a little bit and I knew that it's my job and I was afraid I can remember nights just dark in the house and going into the little baby room there where Samuel was asleep in his crib just a tiny thing and just getting on my face and begging God please give me wisdom

[35:12] I'm a fool I've made a lot of stupid choices choices in my life that are selfish and wrong and now I'm responsible for this guy and as the years came more kids came and I remember little Maddie just crying herself to death driving us nuts crying and crying and crying and being up with her late at night and sitting on the rocker just this little tiny baby in my hands and just saying oh god never had a girl this girl's gonna be a teenager one day god have mercy I'm afraid I feared not being wise enough I feared not knowing how to handle situations when they came and that fear thank god that's a good thing you know what it did it made me fall on my face it made me cry out for wisdom if that fear wasn't there

[36:15] I'd have said you know how hard is it just give them a TV put a TV in their room and they'll be fine but no something inside of me said no TVs in their room that's not how we're gonna operate in this home I feared making mistakes and when you're aware of the potential for mistakes that fear is a healthy thing that'll drive you to the Lord and cause you to ask for wisdom and it'll keep you close to God too now coming to the last part of this thought here in verse number nine here's what Solomon did ask for and it shows us that he's getting off to a good start verse nine he says give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people that I may discern between good and bad for who is able to judge this thy so great a people what Solomon

[37:15] I think what I want to point out here that he's doing here is he's focusing on succeeding what I mean is it was his job to sit on the throne it was his job to reign he couldn't pass it off to his advisors it was his job to judge between the people and discern between good and evil and so he asked God and give me wisdom so that I can do my job Solomon focused on I want to do the job right why didn't he ask for wealth why didn't he ask for his enemies why didn't he ask for peace because his mind was focused on his duty he realized I'm taking this throne and I'm going to do the best I can his intent was on succeeding not just enjoying the ride and seeing what he could get out of it and enjoying the power along the way so focus on succeeding not just surviving you want to get off to a good start and focus on succeeding focus on doing those things that it takes to get you to a place of peace a place of success a place of blessing where God is in your future if it's your marriage focus on making it last not just on making your spouse happy focus on what are those things that are right for this home and this family if it's a family or a career or a college or whatever the thing is what do I need to be doing at the start that will enable me to enjoy the peace of God in my life throughout history focus on succeeding so here's two kings two kings in a row that both got off to good starts and they both have different stories they both have different backgrounds and they both had different obstacles and different challenges but I think the principles that we've seen from both of them they're not random they're real stuff they can be effective in your life too if you'll apply them so let's close it up there and we'll move on and don't forget to pray for our brother

[39:33]  Tony Ibarra for his family for for peace and for grace for healing pray for healing the Lord knows that's what I'd want you to pray for if it was me and if it was my family I'd want you to pray I get better so pray for that and may the will of the Lord be done let's bow our heads together