June 23, 2025 • 22 mins
Clicking here will take you to our webpage
Click here to contact us
Welcome to the Westside church’s special Monday Morning Coffee podcast with Mark Roberts. Mark is a disciple, a husband, father and grand dad, as well as a certified coffee geek, fan of CS Lewis’ writings and he loves his big red Jeep. He’s also the preacher for Westside church.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_01 (00:01):
Hello, and welcome to the Westside Church's special
Monday Morning Coffee podcast.
On this podcast, our preacher,Mark Roberts, will help you get
your week started right with alook back at yesterday's sermon
so that we can think through itfurther and better work the
(00:24):
applications into our dailylives.
Mark will then look forward intothis week's Bible reading so
that we can know what to expectand watch for.
And he may have some extra bonusthoughts from time to time.
So grab a cup of coffee as westart the week together on
Monday Morning Coffee with Mark.
SPEAKER_02 (00:52):
Good morning, good morning.
Welcome to the Monday MorningCoffee podcast for Monday, June
23rd.
I'm Mark, and I've got somenotes from yesterday's sermon.
I have a Bible reading scheduleready to go, and I do have a
great cup of coffee.
It's in a Tigger mug.
I'm feeling Tigger-ish.
This podcast, of course, is allabout keeping the spiritual
momentum from Sunday rollingright into the work week, and
(01:15):
we'll do that by talking aboutthat sermon yesterday, the
question Jesus asked, and we'llbe headed to 1 Kings, all kinds
of things are happening.
Pour that cup of coffee.
Let's get ready.
Let's get set.
Let's go.
Yesterday, I dealt with thequestion that finished seventh
(01:35):
in the voting for questionsJesus asked.
What a question.
Verse 26 of Matthew 8, Jesussaid to the disciples, why are
you afraid, O you of littlefaith?
Something I did not have time toget into in the sermon is why
The simple truth that Jesuschose to sleep in the storm.
(01:56):
I don't think that's anaccident.
I don't think Jesus is justcareless or that he just dropped
off.
I think it's intentional becauseJesus is not ignoring danger.
I think he is modeling the kindof calm and peace that he wants
his disciples and you and me tohave.
In fact, maybe the most powerfuldisplay of his authority in the
(02:16):
whole story is not the calmingof the sea, but that he calmly
naps before.
He calms the sea.
Think about that.
We panic, Jesus rests.
We worry, Jesus sleeps.
And again, that's not becausehe's out of touch, but because
he's in control.
He knows something we forget.
No storm can undo the plan ofGod.
(02:38):
So when you find yourself in thestorm, the wind's blowing hard,
maybe the goal is not just toget out of the storm, but to
learn how to be calm in thestorm because we are with the
one who has it handled.
Remember, Jesus doesn't alwaysfix the storms first.
Sometimes he asks us to trusthim, even when the waves are
(03:02):
still crashing.
I hope that helps you as youthink about Matthew 8 verse 26.
Why are you afraid, O you oflittle faith?
That's the seventh question inour series, The Questions Jesus
Asked.
Turn your Bible now to the bookof 1 Kings.
Let's talk about daily Biblereading for the week.
(03:38):
Welcome to Monday's reading.
Monday's reading is 1 Kingschapter 10 verses 14 to 29.
We're resuming the story, thenarrative from chapter 10 that
began with the visit of theQueen of Sheba.
Now verses 14 to 29 discuss thegreat wealth of Solomon.
And if you watch how many timesthe word gold is used here,
you'll get the point of thischapter.
(03:59):
666 talents of gold in verse 14may be more than 20 tons.
And it does seem that Solomon'sempire is so located that he is
controlling all the major traderoutes, especially the trade
coming off the Arabian Peninsulawhere a lot of gold was mined
and where a lot of goldtrafficked through there.
(04:19):
So he's just building everythingand it's just incredible and
it's just amazing and his famecontinues to spread.
Maybe a couple of places here weget some notes of, hey Solomon,
what exactly are you doing here?
Verse 28, verse 26, both thehorses and chariot thing, we've
talked about that before.
Even the accumulation of so muchgold violates some of the things
(04:41):
that the king was told to avoidin Deuteronomy chapter 17.
I've pointed that out a lot.
And in chapter 11, we'll talk alot about Solomon's failure.
So maybe I shouldn't say toomuch about that, except to say
this.
In verse 19, there's a textualvariant.
Verse 19, the throne had sixsteps.
And if you are reading theEnglish Standard Version from
(05:02):
before the revision of 2011, itwill say the back of the throne
had a calf's head.
Now, after 2011, they changedthat to the throne had a round
top, which indicates that asmore finds are made in
archaeology, more manuscriptsare uncovered, the translators
have more vocabulary, grammar,syntax to work with, and they
(05:23):
can go back and say, hey, I'mnot so sure about that.
But it is certainly apossibility that the back of his
throne had a calf's head on it,which would be very
disconcerting.
Is that a nod to Baal'sreligion?
Baal is often in concert withcow or is that a nod to Egyptian
religion?
We've seen that before in Exodus32 when they build a golden
(05:45):
calf.
One writer said if he had acalf's head on his throne, there
may be some kind of symbol ofidolatry being incorporated
right into his throne.
So that could be a littletroublesome there.
It's worth thinking about atleast.
Perhaps we should end on a goodnote.
Jesus says in Matthew 6 andverse 29, Solomon on all of his
(06:05):
glory was not arrayed like oneof these.
So Jesus uses Solomon as theconsummate example of the
richest person, as rich as youcould possibly be.
And all of this comes because,verse 23, he excelled in riches
and wisdom, which, verse 24, Godput into his mind.
(06:26):
This is all about the Lord.
All about God making a promiseto Solomon and keeping his
promise in a superabundant kindof way.
Tomorrow, we'll begin to seethings fall apart for Solomon.
But for today, it's splendor,wealth, and greatness.
Our reading for Monday, 1 Kingschapter 10, verses 14 to 29.
(06:51):
It's Tuesday.
It is Tuesday and our readingtoday is 1 Kings chapter 11
verses 1 to 25 and maybe thebest news on a day when we're
reading some disappointing textis that tonight Westside, we
have the Zoom call.
We've been out a couple of weekswith me being gone at Vacation
Bible School.
It's great to be back on theZoom.
Look forward to seeing youtonight at 7 in the Zoom call.
(07:12):
1 Kings 11, 1-25 details for usthe fall of Solomon.
And it is a cautionary tale, tosay the least.
We don't think of ourselves asbeing as wealthy as Solomon, but
if you can imagine what mostpeople from a third world
country would say if they touredyour home, maybe this would read
a little bit differently.
And I should say this, This is atext about old people.
(07:34):
We do an awful lot of stuff foryoung people, and we should, and
I'm all for it.
But in the Bible, there's reallynot that many young people who
fade out and fall away,especially in Kings.
You know when people fall awayfrom the Lord?
When they've got silver in theirhair.
That's when Solomon falls away,and we'll see several other
kings who duplicate his mistake.
(07:55):
It is, of course, all aboutwomen.
It is all about women.
And I would have you notice thateven though Solomon is old, and
it is women who turn away hisheart as the text makes
abundantly clear about 50different times, Solomon is
still held accountable for that.
These marriages, of course, area violation of the law.
Deuteronomy 17 tells the kingnot to do this.
(08:18):
Solomon does it anyway.
And I am certain that many ofthese marriages had to do with
political alliances, and we'veseen some of that with Egypt
already.
But his heart is turned away.
I think Solomon is involved.
I think Solomon loves thesewomen more than he loves the
Lord.
He does not love the Lord withall of his heart.
In Sunday's sermon in the 9a.m., I talked about, do you
(08:39):
love Jesus?
And how do you know You loveJesus.
Go back and listen to thatsermon, or if you did not hear
it the first time, this is aboutloving the Lord.
And so God keeps his promises,and part of the promise in 2
Samuel 7 is that when adescendant of David commits
iniquity, God would chasten him.
God would discipline him but notreject him, and that is exactly
(09:03):
what we see from here on in.
And in fact, verse 14 is a greatillustration of the kind of
history that we're going to readfrom now on.
It says that the Lord raised upan adversary against Solomon,
Hadad the Edomite.
He was of the royal house inEdom.
We don't even know everythingthat Hadad the Edomite did, but
this shows us that the book ofKings will give us God's
verdict, God's vantage point onthe history going on.
(09:26):
I'd like to know more aboutSolomon's trade alliances or his
military policies or whathappened to all these chariots.
Why weren't they able to dealwith this situation?
None of that matters.
None of that matters.
What we need to know in theBible is what God thought about
this and that is what we'regetting and that's what we'll
get all through Kings and as weread along in Chronicles as
(09:48):
well.
What did God think?
What is God doing?
Those are the kind of questionsthat we need to be asking when
we're reading our Bible.
So tonight, Westsiders, we'llhave the Zoom call and we'll
talk more about Solomon and thisterrible mistake or this series
of mistakes that he made andwhat we can learn from it.
For everyone else, I'll see youtomorrow on the podcast.
(10:11):
Our reading for Tuesday 1 Kingschapter 11, verses 1 to 25.
It's hump day.
It is Wednesday.
And on Wednesday, we're going toread in 1 Kings chapter 11.
But before we do that, let'shear from our speaker tonight as
our summer series in the Judgescontinues.
Let's listen to Gavin Williamstell us about his sermon this
evening while I drink somecoffee.
(10:32):
Gavin, talk to us about thesermon tonight.
SPEAKER_00 (10:36):
Hi, I'm Gavin Williams from Little Rock,
Arkansas.
Together, we're going to talkabout Judges 3 and the story of
Ehud.
In some ways, Ehud's story isone of the high points of the
entire book of Judges.
Not that that says much.
In the midst of all this chaosand sin and idolatry, we have
(10:57):
Ehud.
Who seems a lot more like anaction movie star than a leader
of God's people in thetraditional sense.
So what I really want to diginto together is what is God
trying to tell us with thiscrazy story?
What can we learn about our Godthrough all of the blood and
(11:19):
guts?
And what can we learn about usas his people?
I'm really looking forward tostudying it with you together.
SPEAKER_02 (11:30):
Thank you, Gavin.
I'm excited to hear his sermonthis evening.
I think this series on thejudges, particularly as it has
coincided with our and been partof our Vacation Bible School,
has really, really been good.
Now let's think about our Biblereading for today, and in fact,
I think there's a littlejudgesness.
Is that a word, judgesness?
I think there's a little bit ofthat in our Bible reading.
(11:51):
We're reading 1 Kings 11, 26 to43, and we're resuming here the
story of God bringingadversaries in trouble to the
house of Solomon because Solomonhas forsaken God.
His heart is not holy for theLord.
And while verse 26 introducesJeroboam, the son of Nebat, and
doesn't say God raised upJeroboam, it It just sounds like
(12:14):
the time of the judges, doesn'tit?
And it is clear that this iswhat God is doing.
I mentioned verse 27, the milo,the mellow before.
This is the terraces that werebuilt to fill in the valley
between the old city of Davidand this new palace area that
Solomon has constructed oversome 20 years.
And while the wording is notprecise in verses 29 and 30, it
(12:35):
seems to be Ahijah's cloak, notJeroboam's cloak, but It
actually could read either way.
No matter how you look at that,we are reminded of Saul.
And Saul had his cloak torn in 1Samuel 15 verse 27 by Samuel
when he lost the kingdom.
So there's a little harking backagain to Saul here, which comes
(12:56):
right at the tail end of thejudges.
And then verse 38, Jeroboam, youneed to do what's right and
great things can happen.
And of course, Jeroboam won't dowhat's right and he will not do
what verse 38 instructs him todo.
And it's hard to miss themessianic tone of verse 39, not
forever.
All of this in my Bible.
At least not all of it.
(13:16):
I shouldn't say that.
But a ton of this in my Bible isin purple because I underline in
purple things that remind me ofthe Genesis 12 promises to
Abraham or the 2 Samuel promisesto David.
And so verse 32, verse 34, verse36, verse 38, verse 39, all of
that is straight out of 2 Samuelchapter 7 and reminds us God
(13:37):
keeps his word.
We get one more note, verse 41.
About, yes, about Solomon'swisdom.
And maybe if we're stillthinking about Saul, I didn't
want to think about Saul.
I don't want to think aboutSaul.
But doesn't verse 40 sound likeSaul?
God is against me, so you knowwhat I'll do?
Instead of obeying God, I willjust kill the person God is
(14:00):
going to replace me with orreplace my son with.
Verse 40 is Solomon acting likeSaul.
That's not wise.
That's just foolish.
our reading for Wednesday, 1Kings 11, verses 26-43.
Welcome to Thursday.
Welcome to Thursday, and todaywe read the division in the
(14:22):
kingdom.
What a sad day this really is.
It's 1 Kings that we're readingin 1 Kings 12, verses 1 to 15.
That will be our reading fortoday.
I would say a couple of thingshere as the kingdom is torn
apart that we want to keep oureye on.
First and foremost, watch theprophets.
Watch the prophets.
There's really a change here inthe role of the prophets.
(14:42):
During the time of King David,prophets are royal counselors,
and they're on the king's side.
There are his friends.
Think about Nathan comes andhelps David.
Think about other prophets whoadvise David spiritually.
Now prophets will be adversariesto the king as they call him to
repentance.
I would also say this.
It will be hard to keep all ofthese kings separate.
(15:04):
We'll end up with a king in thenorth and a king in the south,
and all of their names startwith J, and it just sometimes
gets impossible.
I keep a running tab across thetop of my Bible as to who is
king where to try to make surethat I get it all sorted out.
Probably the most importantthing to say here is to ask why
the story is in the text.
What is God doing here?
(15:24):
What is God saying here?
How does it relate to theoverall promises of what God has
said he will do with his peopleand for his people?
And as we open 1 Kings 12 and wesee the kingdom tearing itself
apart, we really shouldn't besurprised by that.
I've taken pains as we've readalong in 2 Samuel, for example,
to point that there were deepdivisions.
(15:46):
There really were deep divisionsbetween Judah and the northern
kingdom already.
Judah recognizes David as kingseven years before the rest of
the nation comes around to thatand there is plenty of problems
after Absalom's rebellion andthen Sheba's rebellion.
I would guess that the fact thatRehoboam verse 1 goes to Shechem
some 40 miles north of Jerusalemwould indicate some
(16:08):
understanding of how criticalthe times are and how bad the
situation is.
Rehoboam's willingness to meetthem on their turf says he knows
his kingdom is in trouble.
And I would note with you verse4 that the complaint is we're
overtaxed and we're overworked,but that nobody says anything
about the poor spiritualconditions of the day.
Why are there idol temples inthe capital city?
(16:31):
Why didn't your father serve Godwith a whole heart?
Nobody seems to be talking aboutthat.
And Along the way, nobody talksabout all the good things that
Solomon did either, that thekingdom had prospered and known
a great deal of economicprosperity.
And what's really missing here,of course, is that nobody is
seeking God.
Nobody talks about what does Godwant us to do, what would be
(16:53):
God's will here, how can weserve God.
Nobody seems interested in thatat all.
all.
And there is this business ofthe younger advisors.
We don't know exactly how youngthey are.
Sometimes we maybe imagineRehoboam is 16, and he's got a
bunch of 15, 16, 18-year-oldsaround him, and they're all just
foolish party animals, and theygive him bad advice.
(17:15):
Rehoboam actually is 41 when hebecomes king, 1 Kings 14 verse
21.
So they are young, but they'recertainly not 12 years old in
any sense of the word.
Probably the thing to noticehere is that God's word comes to
pass.
Verse 15, The king didn't listento the people, for it was a turn
of affairs brought about by theLord, that he might fulfill his
(17:36):
word, which the Lord spoke byAhijah the Sholonite to Jeroboam
the son of Nebat.
God is at work.
That's the key idea in ourreading today.
Our reading for Thursday, 1Kings 12, 1-15.
It is Friday, end of the week.
It's Friday.
Psalm 26 is the psalm that'sbefore us.
(17:57):
We're always reading psalms onFriday.
Psalm 26.
This is a psalm where Davidasked God to examine him.
I love this psalm a lot.
It is beautiful.
I mark in my Bible in green,beautiful text, and verse 11 is
all green.
That's a lovely, lovely verse.
And maybe as much as I'm sayingthis is a psalm about an
(18:20):
examination, I'm not ready foryou to ask me questions about it
because the question that isalways asked about psalms is,
what kind of psalm is this?
And I'm not entirely sure.
I think in some ways it is alament.
Verse 9 sounds kind of lamenty,if that is a word.
Other scholars think that it ispossibly a psalm that is a
prayer from a sick man, butthere doesn't seem to be
(18:42):
anything necessarily aboutsickness.
Some have thought it is a psalmof innocence.
Others have thought that it wassomething that was said by
worshipers as they came into thetabernacle or into the temple.
I'm coming before God, here Iam.
I want to worship you and I amright with you.
Seek my heart.
Look at me.
Examine me and you'll see thatI'm a true worshiper.
(19:03):
I do love the idea of beingexamined by God, of coming
before the Lord and saying, testme, try me.
see who I am, prove me, O Lord,verse 2, and try me because I
walk in my integrity.
That's verse 1 and then verse11.
David knows who he is and whathe's doing and that he can be
found right before God and uponthat basis he has relationship
(19:27):
with God.
Don't get lost here and thinkthat this is self-righteousness.
David is very aware that he is asinner and that he has sins in
his past.
There's none of that here.
But integrity is the key Theidea not of being sinless.
I'm afraid so many times peoplethink Christianity is about
being sinless.
No, it's not.
It's about being forgiven, butit's also about trying to please
(19:50):
God.
And that's what Psalm 26 is allabout.
Lord, I'm trying to please you.
I'm doing the best I can to walkwith integrity.
That means wholeness, sincerity,not faultlessness.
The NIV has blameless, andthat's a total mistake.
That's a terrible translation.
It's just the idea.
that I'm doing the best I can,God, to serve and honor you, and
(20:14):
I'm asking you to bless mebecause I'm in relationship with
you.
Maybe Psalm 26 is the answer tofoxhole praying, the famous idea
that I'm in a jam and so I'mgoing to ask God to bail me out.
Do you have any relationshipwith God?
Are you walking in integrity?
Are you caring about God?
Do you care about the Lord andabout His ways?
(20:36):
That's what Psalm 26 is allabout, and it provides the base
is for prayer, if it's a lament,by saying God wants to be in
relationship with us, and weneed to be in relationship with
Him if we're going to pray toHim.
That is Psalm 26.
Our reading for Friday, the 26thPsalm.
(20:58):
I'll see you on Monday with acup of coffee.
SPEAKER_01 (21:27):
Thanks for listening to the Westside Church of Christ
podcast, Monday Morning Coffeewith Mark.
For more information aboutWestside, you can connect with
us through our website,justchristians.com, and our
Facebook page.
Our music is from upbeat.io.
That's upbeat with two Ps,U-P-P-B-E-A-T, where creators
(21:51):
can get free music.
Please share our podcast withothers, and we look forward to
seeing you again, with a cup ofcoffee, of course, on next
Monday.
Hello, and welcome to the Westside Church's special
Monday Morning Coffee podcast.
On this podcast, our preacher,Mark Roberts, will help you get
your week started right with alook back at yesterday's sermon
so that we can think through itfurther and better work the
(00:24):
applications into our dailylives.
Mark will then look forward intothis week's Bible reading so
that we can know what to expectand watch for.
And he may have some extra bonusthoughts from time to time.
So grab a cup of coffee as westart the week together on
Monday Morning Coffee with Mark.
SPEAKER_02 (00:52):
Good morning, good morning.
Welcome to the Monday MorningCoffee podcast for Monday, June
23rd.
I'm Mark, and I've got somenotes from yesterday's sermon.
I have a Bible reading scheduleready to go, and I do have a
great cup of coffee.
It's in a Tigger mug.
I'm feeling Tigger-ish.
This podcast, of course, is allabout keeping the spiritual
momentum from Sunday rollingright into the work week, and
(01:15):
we'll do that by talking aboutthat sermon yesterday, the
question Jesus asked, and we'llbe headed to 1 Kings, all kinds
of things are happening.
Pour that cup of coffee.
Let's get ready.
Let's get set.
Let's go.
Yesterday, I dealt with thequestion that finished seventh
(01:35):
in the voting for questionsJesus asked.
What a question.
Verse 26 of Matthew 8, Jesussaid to the disciples, why are
you afraid, O you of littlefaith?
Something I did not have time toget into in the sermon is why
The simple truth that Jesuschose to sleep in the storm.
(01:56):
I don't think that's anaccident.
I don't think Jesus is justcareless or that he just dropped
off.
I think it's intentional becauseJesus is not ignoring danger.
I think he is modeling the kindof calm and peace that he wants
his disciples and you and me tohave.
In fact, maybe the most powerfuldisplay of his authority in the
(02:16):
whole story is not the calmingof the sea, but that he calmly
naps before.
He calms the sea.
Think about that.
We panic, Jesus rests.
We worry, Jesus sleeps.
And again, that's not becausehe's out of touch, but because
he's in control.
He knows something we forget.
No storm can undo the plan ofGod.
(02:38):
So when you find yourself in thestorm, the wind's blowing hard,
maybe the goal is not just toget out of the storm, but to
learn how to be calm in thestorm because we are with the
one who has it handled.
Remember, Jesus doesn't alwaysfix the storms first.
Sometimes he asks us to trusthim, even when the waves are
(03:02):
still crashing.
I hope that helps you as youthink about Matthew 8 verse 26.
Why are you afraid, O you oflittle faith?
That's the seventh question inour series, The Questions Jesus
Asked.
Turn your Bible now to the bookof 1 Kings.
Let's talk about daily Biblereading for the week.
(03:38):
Welcome to Monday's reading.
Monday's reading is 1 Kingschapter 10 verses 14 to 29.
We're resuming the story, thenarrative from chapter 10 that
began with the visit of theQueen of Sheba.
Now verses 14 to 29 discuss thegreat wealth of Solomon.
And if you watch how many timesthe word gold is used here,
you'll get the point of thischapter.
(03:59):
666 talents of gold in verse 14may be more than 20 tons.
And it does seem that Solomon'sempire is so located that he is
controlling all the major traderoutes, especially the trade
coming off the Arabian Peninsulawhere a lot of gold was mined
and where a lot of goldtrafficked through there.
(04:19):
So he's just building everythingand it's just incredible and
it's just amazing and his famecontinues to spread.
Maybe a couple of places here weget some notes of, hey Solomon,
what exactly are you doing here?
Verse 28, verse 26, both thehorses and chariot thing, we've
talked about that before.
Even the accumulation of so muchgold violates some of the things
(04:41):
that the king was told to avoidin Deuteronomy chapter 17.
I've pointed that out a lot.
And in chapter 11, we'll talk alot about Solomon's failure.
So maybe I shouldn't say toomuch about that, except to say
this.
In verse 19, there's a textualvariant.
Verse 19, the throne had sixsteps.
And if you are reading theEnglish Standard Version from
(05:02):
before the revision of 2011, itwill say the back of the throne
had a calf's head.
Now, after 2011, they changedthat to the throne had a round
top, which indicates that asmore finds are made in
archaeology, more manuscriptsare uncovered, the translators
have more vocabulary, grammar,syntax to work with, and they
(05:23):
can go back and say, hey, I'mnot so sure about that.
But it is certainly apossibility that the back of his
throne had a calf's head on it,which would be very
disconcerting.
Is that a nod to Baal'sreligion?
Baal is often in concert withcow or is that a nod to Egyptian
religion?
We've seen that before in Exodus32 when they build a golden
(05:45):
calf.
One writer said if he had acalf's head on his throne, there
may be some kind of symbol ofidolatry being incorporated
right into his throne.
So that could be a littletroublesome there.
It's worth thinking about atleast.
Perhaps we should end on a goodnote.
Jesus says in Matthew 6 andverse 29, Solomon on all of his
(06:05):
glory was not arrayed like oneof these.
So Jesus uses Solomon as theconsummate example of the
richest person, as rich as youcould possibly be.
And all of this comes because,verse 23, he excelled in riches
and wisdom, which, verse 24, Godput into his mind.
(06:26):
This is all about the Lord.
All about God making a promiseto Solomon and keeping his
promise in a superabundant kindof way.
Tomorrow, we'll begin to seethings fall apart for Solomon.
But for today, it's splendor,wealth, and greatness.
Our reading for Monday, 1 Kingschapter 10, verses 14 to 29.
(06:51):
It's Tuesday.
It is Tuesday and our readingtoday is 1 Kings chapter 11
verses 1 to 25 and maybe thebest news on a day when we're
reading some disappointing textis that tonight Westside, we
have the Zoom call.
We've been out a couple of weekswith me being gone at Vacation
Bible School.
It's great to be back on theZoom.
Look forward to seeing youtonight at 7 in the Zoom call.
(07:12):
1 Kings 11, 1-25 details for usthe fall of Solomon.
And it is a cautionary tale, tosay the least.
We don't think of ourselves asbeing as wealthy as Solomon, but
if you can imagine what mostpeople from a third world
country would say if they touredyour home, maybe this would read
a little bit differently.
And I should say this, This is atext about old people.
(07:34):
We do an awful lot of stuff foryoung people, and we should, and
I'm all for it.
But in the Bible, there's reallynot that many young people who
fade out and fall away,especially in Kings.
You know when people fall awayfrom the Lord?
When they've got silver in theirhair.
That's when Solomon falls away,and we'll see several other
kings who duplicate his mistake.
(07:55):
It is, of course, all aboutwomen.
It is all about women.
And I would have you notice thateven though Solomon is old, and
it is women who turn away hisheart as the text makes
abundantly clear about 50different times, Solomon is
still held accountable for that.
These marriages, of course, area violation of the law.
Deuteronomy 17 tells the kingnot to do this.
(08:18):
Solomon does it anyway.
And I am certain that many ofthese marriages had to do with
political alliances, and we'veseen some of that with Egypt
already.
But his heart is turned away.
I think Solomon is involved.
I think Solomon loves thesewomen more than he loves the
Lord.
He does not love the Lord withall of his heart.
In Sunday's sermon in the 9a.m., I talked about, do you
(08:39):
love Jesus?
And how do you know You loveJesus.
Go back and listen to thatsermon, or if you did not hear
it the first time, this is aboutloving the Lord.
And so God keeps his promises,and part of the promise in 2
Samuel 7 is that when adescendant of David commits
iniquity, God would chasten him.
God would discipline him but notreject him, and that is exactly
(09:03):
what we see from here on in.
And in fact, verse 14 is a greatillustration of the kind of
history that we're going to readfrom now on.
It says that the Lord raised upan adversary against Solomon,
Hadad the Edomite.
He was of the royal house inEdom.
We don't even know everythingthat Hadad the Edomite did, but
this shows us that the book ofKings will give us God's
verdict, God's vantage point onthe history going on.
(09:26):
I'd like to know more aboutSolomon's trade alliances or his
military policies or whathappened to all these chariots.
Why weren't they able to dealwith this situation?
None of that matters.
None of that matters.
What we need to know in theBible is what God thought about
this and that is what we'regetting and that's what we'll
get all through Kings and as weread along in Chronicles as
(09:48):
well.
What did God think?
What is God doing?
Those are the kind of questionsthat we need to be asking when
we're reading our Bible.
So tonight, Westsiders, we'llhave the Zoom call and we'll
talk more about Solomon and thisterrible mistake or this series
of mistakes that he made andwhat we can learn from it.
For everyone else, I'll see youtomorrow on the podcast.
(10:11):
Our reading for Tuesday 1 Kingschapter 11, verses 1 to 25.
It's hump day.
It is Wednesday.
And on Wednesday, we're going toread in 1 Kings chapter 11.
But before we do that, let'shear from our speaker tonight as
our summer series in the Judgescontinues.
Let's listen to Gavin Williamstell us about his sermon this
evening while I drink somecoffee.
(10:32):
Gavin, talk to us about thesermon tonight.
SPEAKER_00 (10:36):
Hi, I'm Gavin Williams from Little Rock,
Arkansas.
Together, we're going to talkabout Judges 3 and the story of
Ehud.
In some ways, Ehud's story isone of the high points of the
entire book of Judges.
Not that that says much.
In the midst of all this chaosand sin and idolatry, we have
(10:57):
Ehud.
Who seems a lot more like anaction movie star than a leader
of God's people in thetraditional sense.
So what I really want to diginto together is what is God
trying to tell us with thiscrazy story?
What can we learn about our Godthrough all of the blood and
(11:19):
guts?
And what can we learn about usas his people?
I'm really looking forward tostudying it with you together.
SPEAKER_02 (11:30):
Thank you, Gavin.
I'm excited to hear his sermonthis evening.
I think this series on thejudges, particularly as it has
coincided with our and been partof our Vacation Bible School,
has really, really been good.
Now let's think about our Biblereading for today, and in fact,
I think there's a littlejudgesness.
Is that a word, judgesness?
I think there's a little bit ofthat in our Bible reading.
(11:51):
We're reading 1 Kings 11, 26 to43, and we're resuming here the
story of God bringingadversaries in trouble to the
house of Solomon because Solomonhas forsaken God.
His heart is not holy for theLord.
And while verse 26 introducesJeroboam, the son of Nebat, and
doesn't say God raised upJeroboam, it It just sounds like
(12:14):
the time of the judges, doesn'tit?
And it is clear that this iswhat God is doing.
I mentioned verse 27, the milo,the mellow before.
This is the terraces that werebuilt to fill in the valley
between the old city of Davidand this new palace area that
Solomon has constructed oversome 20 years.
And while the wording is notprecise in verses 29 and 30, it
(12:35):
seems to be Ahijah's cloak, notJeroboam's cloak, but It
actually could read either way.
No matter how you look at that,we are reminded of Saul.
And Saul had his cloak torn in 1Samuel 15 verse 27 by Samuel
when he lost the kingdom.
So there's a little harking backagain to Saul here, which comes
(12:56):
right at the tail end of thejudges.
And then verse 38, Jeroboam, youneed to do what's right and
great things can happen.
And of course, Jeroboam won't dowhat's right and he will not do
what verse 38 instructs him todo.
And it's hard to miss themessianic tone of verse 39, not
forever.
All of this in my Bible.
At least not all of it.
(13:16):
I shouldn't say that.
But a ton of this in my Bible isin purple because I underline in
purple things that remind me ofthe Genesis 12 promises to
Abraham or the 2 Samuel promisesto David.
And so verse 32, verse 34, verse36, verse 38, verse 39, all of
that is straight out of 2 Samuelchapter 7 and reminds us God
(13:37):
keeps his word.
We get one more note, verse 41.
About, yes, about Solomon'swisdom.
And maybe if we're stillthinking about Saul, I didn't
want to think about Saul.
I don't want to think aboutSaul.
But doesn't verse 40 sound likeSaul?
God is against me, so you knowwhat I'll do?
Instead of obeying God, I willjust kill the person God is
(14:00):
going to replace me with orreplace my son with.
Verse 40 is Solomon acting likeSaul.
That's not wise.
That's just foolish.
our reading for Wednesday, 1Kings 11, verses 26-43.
Welcome to Thursday.
Welcome to Thursday, and todaywe read the division in the
(14:22):
kingdom.
What a sad day this really is.
It's 1 Kings that we're readingin 1 Kings 12, verses 1 to 15.
That will be our reading fortoday.
I would say a couple of thingshere as the kingdom is torn
apart that we want to keep oureye on.
First and foremost, watch theprophets.
Watch the prophets.
There's really a change here inthe role of the prophets.
(14:42):
During the time of King David,prophets are royal counselors,
and they're on the king's side.
There are his friends.
Think about Nathan comes andhelps David.
Think about other prophets whoadvise David spiritually.
Now prophets will be adversariesto the king as they call him to
repentance.
I would also say this.
It will be hard to keep all ofthese kings separate.
(15:04):
We'll end up with a king in thenorth and a king in the south,
and all of their names startwith J, and it just sometimes
gets impossible.
I keep a running tab across thetop of my Bible as to who is
king where to try to make surethat I get it all sorted out.
Probably the most importantthing to say here is to ask why
the story is in the text.
What is God doing here?
(15:24):
What is God saying here?
How does it relate to theoverall promises of what God has
said he will do with his peopleand for his people?
And as we open 1 Kings 12 and wesee the kingdom tearing itself
apart, we really shouldn't besurprised by that.
I've taken pains as we've readalong in 2 Samuel, for example,
to point that there were deepdivisions.
(15:46):
There really were deep divisionsbetween Judah and the northern
kingdom already.
Judah recognizes David as kingseven years before the rest of
the nation comes around to thatand there is plenty of problems
after Absalom's rebellion andthen Sheba's rebellion.
I would guess that the fact thatRehoboam verse 1 goes to Shechem
some 40 miles north of Jerusalemwould indicate some
(16:08):
understanding of how criticalthe times are and how bad the
situation is.
Rehoboam's willingness to meetthem on their turf says he knows
his kingdom is in trouble.
And I would note with you verse4 that the complaint is we're
overtaxed and we're overworked,but that nobody says anything
about the poor spiritualconditions of the day.
Why are there idol temples inthe capital city?
(16:31):
Why didn't your father serve Godwith a whole heart?
Nobody seems to be talking aboutthat.
And Along the way, nobody talksabout all the good things that
Solomon did either, that thekingdom had prospered and known
a great deal of economicprosperity.
And what's really missing here,of course, is that nobody is
seeking God.
Nobody talks about what does Godwant us to do, what would be
(16:53):
God's will here, how can weserve God.
Nobody seems interested in thatat all.
all.
And there is this business ofthe younger advisors.
We don't know exactly how youngthey are.
Sometimes we maybe imagineRehoboam is 16, and he's got a
bunch of 15, 16, 18-year-oldsaround him, and they're all just
foolish party animals, and theygive him bad advice.
(17:15):
Rehoboam actually is 41 when hebecomes king, 1 Kings 14 verse
21.
So they are young, but they'recertainly not 12 years old in
any sense of the word.
Probably the thing to noticehere is that God's word comes to
pass.
Verse 15, The king didn't listento the people, for it was a turn
of affairs brought about by theLord, that he might fulfill his
(17:36):
word, which the Lord spoke byAhijah the Sholonite to Jeroboam
the son of Nebat.
God is at work.
That's the key idea in ourreading today.
Our reading for Thursday, 1Kings 12, 1-15.
It is Friday, end of the week.
It's Friday.
Psalm 26 is the psalm that'sbefore us.
(17:57):
We're always reading psalms onFriday.
Psalm 26.
This is a psalm where Davidasked God to examine him.
I love this psalm a lot.
It is beautiful.
I mark in my Bible in green,beautiful text, and verse 11 is
all green.
That's a lovely, lovely verse.
And maybe as much as I'm sayingthis is a psalm about an
(18:20):
examination, I'm not ready foryou to ask me questions about it
because the question that isalways asked about psalms is,
what kind of psalm is this?
And I'm not entirely sure.
I think in some ways it is alament.
Verse 9 sounds kind of lamenty,if that is a word.
Other scholars think that it ispossibly a psalm that is a
prayer from a sick man, butthere doesn't seem to be
(18:42):
anything necessarily aboutsickness.
Some have thought it is a psalmof innocence.
Others have thought that it wassomething that was said by
worshipers as they came into thetabernacle or into the temple.
I'm coming before God, here Iam.
I want to worship you and I amright with you.
Seek my heart.
Look at me.
Examine me and you'll see thatI'm a true worshiper.
(19:03):
I do love the idea of beingexamined by God, of coming
before the Lord and saying, testme, try me.
see who I am, prove me, O Lord,verse 2, and try me because I
walk in my integrity.
That's verse 1 and then verse11.
David knows who he is and whathe's doing and that he can be
found right before God and uponthat basis he has relationship
(19:27):
with God.
Don't get lost here and thinkthat this is self-righteousness.
David is very aware that he is asinner and that he has sins in
his past.
There's none of that here.
But integrity is the key Theidea not of being sinless.
I'm afraid so many times peoplethink Christianity is about
being sinless.
No, it's not.
It's about being forgiven, butit's also about trying to please
(19:50):
God.
And that's what Psalm 26 is allabout.
Lord, I'm trying to please you.
I'm doing the best I can to walkwith integrity.
That means wholeness, sincerity,not faultlessness.
The NIV has blameless, andthat's a total mistake.
That's a terrible translation.
It's just the idea.
that I'm doing the best I can,God, to serve and honor you, and
(20:14):
I'm asking you to bless mebecause I'm in relationship with
you.
Maybe Psalm 26 is the answer tofoxhole praying, the famous idea
that I'm in a jam and so I'mgoing to ask God to bail me out.
Do you have any relationshipwith God?
Are you walking in integrity?
Are you caring about God?
Do you care about the Lord andabout His ways?
(20:36):
That's what Psalm 26 is allabout, and it provides the base
is for prayer, if it's a lament,by saying God wants to be in
relationship with us, and weneed to be in relationship with
Him if we're going to pray toHim.
That is Psalm 26.
Our reading for Friday, the 26thPsalm.
(20:58):
I'll see you on Monday with acup of coffee.
SPEAKER_01 (21:27):
Thanks for listening to the Westside Church of Christ
podcast, Monday Morning Coffeewith Mark.
For more information aboutWestside, you can connect with
us through our website,justchristians.com, and our
Facebook page.
Our music is from upbeat.io.
That's upbeat with two Ps,U-P-P-B-E-A-T, where creators
(21:51):
can get free music.
Please share our podcast withothers, and we look forward to
seeing you again, with a cup ofcoffee, of course, on next
Monday.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.