God’s Purpose in a Variety of Testings: Liberty

God's Purpose in a Variety of Testings: Liberty

Would you join me this morning by turning for Scripture reading to two portions of Scripture in 1 Kings. I'd like to begin in chapter 6 and read a few verses from 1 Kings chapter 6 this morning. 1 Kings chapter 6, I would like to read beginning in verse 11. And we read there, And the word of the Lord came to Solomon, saying, Concerning this house which thou art in building, if thou wilt walk in my statutes, and execute my judgments, and keep all my commandments to walk in them, then will I perform my word with thee, which I spake unto David thy father. And I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will not forsake my people Israel. So Solomon built the house and finished it.

And then in chapter 9, I'd like to turn over there as well. Chapter 9, verse 1 beginning. 1 Kings chapter 9, verse 1, And it came to pass, when Solomon had finished the building of the house of the Lord, and the king's house, and all Solomon's desire which he was pleased to do, that the Lord appeared to Solomon the second time as he had appeared to him. 2 Kings chapter 9, verse 1, And the Lord said unto him, I have heard thy prayer and thy supplication that thou hast made before me. 3 Kings chapter 9, verse 1, I have hallowed this house which thou hast built, to put my name there forever, and mine eyes and mine heart shall be there perpetually. 4 Kings chapter 9, verse 1, And if thou wilt walk before me, as David thy father walked, in integrity of heart, and in uprightness, 5 Kings chapter 9, verse 1, And if thou wilt walk before me, as David thy father walked, in integrity of heart, and in uprightness, 6 Kings chapter 9, verse 1, And if thou wilt walk before me, as David thy father walked, in integrity of heart, and in uprightness, 7 Kings chapter 9, verse 1, And if thou wilt walk before me, as David thy father walked, in integrity of heart, and in uprightness, 8 Kings chapter 9, verse 1, Then will I establish the throne of thy kingdom upon Israel for ever, as I promised to David thy father, saying, 9 Kings chapter 9, verse 1, There shall not fail thee a man upon the throne of Israel.

But if ye shall at all turn from following me, ye or your children, and will not keep my commandments and my statutes which I have set before you, 11 Kings chapter 9, verse 1, But go and serve other gods, and worship them. 12 Kings chapter 9, verse 1, Then will I cut off Israel out of the land which I have given them, and this house which I have hallowed for my name, will I cast out of my sight. 13 Kings chapter 9, verse 1, And Israel shall be a proverb, and a byword among all people. 14 Kings chapter 9, verse 1, And at this house which is high, every one that passeth by it shall be astonished, and shall hiss. 15 Kings chapter 9, verse 1, And they shall be astonished, and shall hiss. 16 Kings chapter 9, verse 1, And they shall say, Why hath the Lord done thus unto this land, and to this house? 17 Kings chapter 9, verse 1, And they shall answer, Because they forsook the Lord their God, who brought forth their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and have taken hold upon other gods, and have worshipped them, and served them. 18 Kings chapter 9, verse 1, Therefore hath the Lord brought upon them all this evil.

And let's mark our Bibles, please, to these two portions of Scripture this morning. These will serve as our text. For the message this morning. And let's acknowledge the Lord in a word of prayer. Gracious Father, as we've read your word now, read this portion of it for the morning message, We're pleading the blood of Christ. We're looking to you to help us, Lord, to open our eyes. I'm often reminded, Lord, that I believe it was Dwight L. Moody that said that to read your word, word without the illumination of the Holy Spirit is like trying to read a sundial by moonlight.

And Lord, we need your, we need the Holy Spirit to come and help us to see what it is that you would have us to see from your word today, and then to apply it to our lives as we go out, not only today, but tomorrow and the next day. Lord, help us to take to heart your word. Help us as we have just sung this morning to hide your word in our heart that we might not sin against thee.

Lord, thank you that you have given us your word. And it's a guide to our feet. It's a lamp to our feet, a light to our path. Help us, each one of us. We each have unique needs in our lives, Father. We each have a unique set of circumstances. Each one of us have unique backgrounds. But Lord, we're so grateful. glad that we've come and we hold your word in our hands this morning and we are able to hide it in our hearts. So help each one of us to do that, Lord, that in each of our circumstances, we will have the wisdom needed to do your will. And we pray asking these things in Jesus' name, asking your continued blessings upon this service in Jesus' name. Amen.

Well, we have the privilege of opening God's word this morning and in the last couple of weeks, although they have been recorded messages, we've been looking at God's purpose in a variety of tests and we want to continue to do that for the next few weeks. But we've seen one of the ways that God tests us is when he takes loved ones. Specifically, we've seen those that God has taken from our lives. We've seen those that God has taken from our lives. We've seen those that God takes away loved ones that we relied on. We see how God used people in our lives and then he may take them in death and how we think, how am I going to go forward without that person that God has put in my life? It may be a parent, it may be a grandparent, it may be a spouse, it may be someone that God greatly used and yet he may have removed that person from our lives in a form of testing to us

and yet what God's heart is always in these things, even when he takes away dear loved ones from us, is to draw us closer to himself. He wants us, he wants us to realize that he, though they may be gone, he is still very much with us.

I pointed out in the funeral yesterday that John Newton, you know, of course it was his mother was gone from him, but how her prayers and how the things that he had done for us, how he had done for us, how he had done for us, how he had taught him about the Lord still served as a pointer to really point him to Christ in the time of his deep trouble on the seas when he went through that storm and thought, I am without God and I'm without hope in this world. And yet God's amazing grace, God proved himself to be very much the friend of John Newton, even though his mother was gone.

We mentioned last week that God sends disappointments in our lives. God sends disappointments in our lives. God sends disappointments in our lives. We talked about appointments and how appointments are, you know, we set appointments, don't we, with, we have doctor's appointments, we have meetings that we arrange, and we are planning, maybe it's somebody coming over to service something at our home, and, you know, we're expecting that person to arrive at the time they said they're going to arrive, or, you know, our doctor's expecting us to arrive at the appointment at the appointed time, right? And when some party fails in that, then we're going to have to do something about it. And so, you know, we talked there is disappointments. There is a disappointment that comes when expectations are not fulfilled, are not met in that way. And yet we have seen so many times in our lives how God, God permits, he appoints disappointments in our lives, but with purpose. At the moment, we might wonder, what is the purpose? But they are really his appointments for our lives.

And that's why, even when we make plans, we must make them in pencil. We must not make them in stone. We must be always open to God's changes to our plans and his appointments for our lives, because if we knew how everything was going to go ahead of time, then where would there be faith, right? How could we walk by faith if we knew where everything was going to fall out?

I will just, I will confess that I am the type of person that likes to have things laid out. I like to know exactly how it's going to go. I like to know A, B, C, D, and then there's no question, right? I like to be organized. I'm not saying that I always am, but that's my desire. I think probably a lot of us are at least to some degree that way. We like to have things lined up. Nothing wrong with making plans, but be ready for God will bring at times in our lives disappointments, but we must not see them. We must not see them. We must not see them. We must not see them. We must not see them. We must not see them. We must not see them. We must not see them. Because God is working through it to accomplish his purposes. God is working through those things.

But I want to speak this morning, the Lord laid upon my heart. I've got a number of different testings that I'd like to speak about, but the one the Lord has laid upon my heart this morning, I believe, is the test of liberty. The test of liberty. We might say, well, this is a little bit different sort of tests than the test of disappointment, isn't it? We might say, that the test of liberty is not one where the Lord is so much taking something from us that we thought we were expecting that we were going to have, but more so testing us with allowing us room to make choices and decisions.

Today, we've read about Solomon. Solomon was a man who had an appointed plan for his life set of his reign, didn't he? He had a plan lined up for him already by his father. The goods, the materials for building this temple were already in place. He had God's favor for building this temple. God wanted this temple to be built. In fact, God said, Solomon is the one who's going to build the temple. Your son is going to build it, not you, David. And so he already had it all lined up, right? He had it all in place. And all he had to do was just, you know, kind of like a schedule for our school, right? Well, at nine o'clock, we're going to do this. At 10 o'clock, we're going to do that. At 11 o'clock, we're going to have this, you know, eat lunch. All of these things are already lined up. We know that once we get out of school, life doesn't always take that same fashion, does it? It may be filled with more unpredictability. But Solomon, it was just right there for him. He just, the table was set. He just stepped right into it and said, I will. I'll do it. I'll build this temple that provision has been made for. And David prayed, Lord, give my son Solomon a perfect heart. Keep in this people's hearts a willing heart to always be like this and to do your will. In so many terms, in so many words.

But what we do with liberty is a test, right? I think we've probably, most of us have heard that statement, you're at liberty, but watch it, right? Be careful with what you do with liberty, with your liberty.

Now, Solomon, Solomon even had connections, we might say. Remember? And I know we've gone through, we went through Solomon, some few months ago when we were looking, as we've been looking at the kings of Israel. And you'll remember that we mentioned Hiram, king of Tyre. This was to the north of Israel, right? In Phoenicia, there was a, Tyre was one of the prominent city-states, if you will, in Phoenicia, in the north. And Hiram, in that region, he was known for, well, they had stone masons, but they were known for their purple dye up in that area. And they were known for their cedar trees. Lots of cedar trees. Cedar is excellent for building, as we see. Solomon not only used that in the building of the temple, but in the building of his own palace. Cedar, cedar was a good wood to use, and Hiram had plenty of trained, skilled workers that knew how to work with it. And so, Solomon was blessed to have this connection, this relationship, this connection, this connection, this connection, this connection, this connection, this connection, this connection, this good relationship with Hiram, king of Tyre,

so that he could say, Hiram, I know you've been a good friend to my father, and I want that relationship to continue. And we're going to need this cedar for the building of the Lord's house. So he had that connection. He had that provision of materials. He had all of these things in place for him.

We see that there were many, many thousands. There were many thousands of men, and even those that would work in a rotation, and the cutting of stones, and in the, of these costly stones that would be brought in to build the house of the Lord.

In 1 Kings chapter 6, if you'll look there with me, you may already have your Bible open to that. We read in verse 11, and the word of the Lord came to Solomon saying, concerning this house which thou art in building, if thou wilt walk in my statutes, and execute my judgments, and keep all my commandments to walk in them, then will I perform my word with thee, which I spake unto David thy father. And I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will not forsake my people Israel. So Solomon built the house and finished it. We will learn it is also true in verse 38, if you'll look there in 1 Kings 6, verse 38. Year in the month bull, which is the eighth month, was the house finished throughout all the parts thereof. And according to all the fashion of it, so was he seven years in building it.

It does trouble me a bit when I read that it took him 13 years to build his own house. He spent seven years building the house of the Lord, but almost twice the amount of time building his own house. Not only did he build a palace for himself, though, we see that he got him an Egyptian wife, right? Daughter of Pharaoh. He married an Egyptian wife in 1 Kings 7. Look there in verse number 8. And his house where he dwelt had another court within the porch, which was of the like work. Solomon made also a house for Pharaoh's daughter, whom he had taken to wife, like unto this porch.

We can see Solomon is turning to the right, to the left. He's not observing to do according to all that God had told him. He did, it seems, in the building of the temple. But once he begins building his house, then we see him starting to build other houses and having wives. As the Lord told him not to bring in these multiple wives of the, of the gods, the false gods of the nation surrounding them. We see that his, in his liberty, he didn't, he didn't go out and necessarily just start off by, you know, building bunches of groves and all of these things and saying, forget the house of the Lord. We're going to go worship Asherim. We're going to, we're going to go build all of these things to these false gods. But little by little, through his, through his compromise, these things began to come in. He began, well, I buried this wife. I got to build her a house. I got to do this. And he just got busy doing so many things that were apart from what God wanted him to do with the liberty that he had granted him.

In fact, Solomon, he said, I'm living in peaceful times. My, my father was a man of war, but this is a time of peace, a time of peace. You know, what we do with our liberty and what we do, with our leisure does say a lot about our character, doesn't it? It does say a lot about our thoughts. It does say a lot about God is testing us many times with times of peace, isn't he? He tests us with times of, of, of a reprieve, a time of, uh, maybe we're not under the gun, we might say. Uh, and those times were a test as well as the times when we are under the gun.

Think about David. He was under the gun. Wasn't it 13 years of being chased by Saul? But now we have his son. He's able to build a temple. He's able to build a house into the Lord. And yet what will he do after he finishes that? He doesn't have daddy there to give him direction. He doesn't have his dad, his father to give him direction and how he's to go. And so he begins to pursue vanity, vanity. Oh, it's so easy to pursue vanity. And that's especially now in the times we live, we have, you know, we have every form of social media. We have every form of, uh, of technology at our fingertips and we can go off and just waste our lives with all that is available to us. Now we can waste our lives apart from what God actually wants us to do.

If we're not careful, be sober, be vigilant. Your adversary, the devil, he's wasting our lives. He's wasting our lives. He's wasting our lives. He's wasting our lives. He's wasting our lives. He's wasting our lives. He's wasting our lives. He's waiting for that opportunity to pounce, isn't he? Be careful to do and observe to do according to what God has said. Don't turn to the right hand. Don't turn to the left. How did, how did, uh, Christian and faithful end up in Downing Castle? Well, we'll just go over here and bypass Meadow, right? It's just close to the way, right? It's just over here a little bit. Little did they think about, or they didn't think about, where bypass Meadow would ultimately lead them. It's just, we're going to take this liberty over here. We're going to go over here to this, just a little, what we can still see the way over there. No, that's not God's, that's not God's plan for us. Solomon, we might say had training wheels to begin with, but what did he do when the training wheels were taking off, taken off?

I think of all of us in this sanctuary today are in different places in our lives, some, some of us, maybe, you know, we, we've passed kindergarten now. We're, we're going up into elementary grade. Some are going up into middle school. Some have graduated college. Some have left the nest of home. Some have finished taking care of elderly parents. Now some are retired. Some of you, um, some of you have, some of you are, uh, all of us are, are, are free from something that we used to have to do. We had some responsibility in something. And now we say, that's no longer the chapter of life that I'm in now. I have moved on to the next chapter and we will continue to do that until the Lord comes for us or he calls us home. We're going to have change. We're going to move from one chapter to another in our lives.

I think about that. I think about that. I think about that. I think about the time when I was so glad when my parents let me drive beyond this, beyond our street on my bike, I could go three or four streets over. I felt like I was really on top of the world. You know, I could, I can get out and see more things happening. Um, but there were different responsibilities, different responsibilities that came with that freedom, right? You got to observe this, that, and the other, if you're going to go there, you've got to make sure that, you know, you're not, you're not doing it past a certain time. You've got to make sure that, you know, certain time of day and all of these kinds of things.

What a wonderful thing. I, uh, you know, David was talking about when he turns 21. I think about when I turned 16, the license, you know, isn't that great? We, we got a car, but now both of the fuel pumps went out on the truck and you're going to have to replace one and I'm going to have to replace one. Responsibility comes with that privilege, right? Responsibility comes with that liberty.

We noticed that with each stage of life, there is new responsibility. Will we, will we take on that responsibility for the glory of God and handle it? Well, as we, we might say, well, I handled the last stage well with God's help. Well, we're going to need God's help to go through this next stage. We're going to need God's help. We might have liberty from something. I know I can look at some of you here today. I know how many years you cared for elderly parents and you did it well. Thank the Lord for that. But you're in a new chapter of life now. You're in a new stage of life.

I, I think of, if you'll turn with me to Proverbs 29, please. Proverbs 29 in verse 15. We have a, we may not be under the roof of our parents anymore. We, our parents may not even be alive anymore. Some of you, your parents have passed on, but we have a faithful guide that's with us through all of life, don't we? Proverbs 29, 15 gives us this principle here. Proverbs 29, 15, the rod and reproof give wisdom. Thank God for the guidance that we received in that, in that way.

But a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame. Why? Because the child left to himself doesn't know what to do with liberty. He's just, he's just going to make a mess of things. He's, uh, he's, he's, he's just going to probably spill something all over the place. He's going to misuse something. He's going to misuse something. He's going to misuse something. He's going to use the wrong pair of scissors or he's going to cut something, cut their hair. You know, they're going to do something foolish with that liberty because they're not responsible enough to handle it. So that's why a child left to himself brings his mother to shame.

But that's why children obey your parents because they're going to teach you not only what not to do, hopefully, but what to do. Here's how you need to think. Here's how you need to talk. Here's how you need to handle yourself. You need to become a responsible young person. You need to learn right and wrong, good, better, and best, right? You need to learn how to, how to carry yourself. We love you. We're not just kill joys as parents. We might say to our children, we want you to learn because one day you're going to have a family of your own. You're going to have your own set of responsibilities and we don't want you to be ill prepared when you come to that time in life. We want you to be able to step into that and say, I am so thankful my parents taught me responsibility. I'm thankful for that.

Well, look in Psalm 119 verse 71, Psalm 119 verse 71. And it says here in Psalm 119 verse 71, it is good for me that I have been afflicted that I might learn thy statutes. Instead of complaining, Lord, why don't, why did you send the afflictions to my life? Lord, it's been good. It's good that you've brought these afflictions to me that I might, I might learn. And so that I can now, even when the Lord brings me, as David would say, into a large place or a wide place, I can, I can, I can handle that privilege with responsibility because the Lord, you've taught me things through the hardships so that I can appreciate you. I can appreciate when I'm on the mountaintop. I can appreciate it when, when I have room to breathe. I can, I will praise your name, Lord, for you brought me out of a horrible pit. You brought me out of the valley. You brought me through the difficulties.

In Proverbs 6, let's look there, Proverbs 6 verse 23. I'm often reminded of these words, Proverbs 6, 23, for the commandment is a lamp and the law is light. And reproofs of instruction are the way of life. You know, our, our Lord, our heavenly Father, and even the work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts is continually reminding us, reminding us, even when we're going through times of what we would call, everything is a blessing really in God's plan, but we might say times of blessing, victory. You're at liberty, but why? Watch it. Be careful. Um, the Lord reproves us. The Lord chastens his own. Thank God for that because he, he is constantly there with us. We might, we might not any longer have our parents, our grandparents. We might not any longer have certain, certain things in our lives to, to test and direct us that we did in the past, but the Lord is the one who is our continual companion. He's our continual, the one who loves us. And, and is there with us all the way. He's encouraging and, and strengthening us, but he's also reproving us. He's also there to, to teach us even in the times, but we'd have to listen to him. He's not going to force us to listen to him, but he's there and we need to, we need to, we need to endure the chastening that he brings even in our lives.

Um, let's look over in Ecclesiastes together. Look in Ecclesiastes 2. I want to go back to Solomon this morning and, and, and we read here in Ecclesiastes chapter 2, what he says in verse 1. He said, I said in my heart, that's where things begin, isn't it? Aren't they? In the heart. Ecclesiastes chapter 2, verse 1. I said in my heart, go to now, I will prove thee with mirth. Therefore enjoy pleasure. And behold, this also is the way. And I said, I said in my heart, I said in my heart, I said in my heart, so is vanity. I said of laughter is mad and of mirth. What doeth it? I sought in my heart to give myself unto wine, yet acquainting my heart with wisdom and to lay, lay hold on folly till I might see what was good for the sons of, what was that good for the sons of men, which they should do under the heaven all the days of their life.

Solomon tried out. I want to be wise, but I want to, I want to, I want to test out every form of amusement and levity and frivolity and, and merriment. And he said, in so many words, merriment for the sake of merriment is just vanity. Just, just a life that's nothing but entertaining yourself is, is an empty life. Just, just, I just want to, I just want to be entertained. I want, I want to have fun.

Well, there's certain, we look at our children and certain ones of them are more logical and everything's in a box and we understand, organize this. And others are like, my purpose in life is to have fun. I want to have fun. Well, there is a place to enjoy things, but we're not just to simply live for the indulgence of just enjoy, enjoy and have fun. And, and, you know, pastor Peacock often remind us we've, we've stumbled into happiness. On the way to duty, right? Doing what we know the Lord would have us to do. The Lord brings joy in when we are serving him. We're not just to live for the, the fun, fun, fun and the amusement and the, and the frivolity of life. Although that, that can be enjoyed sometimes along the way as we're doing what the Lord would have us to do.

We notice here in Ecclesiastes chapter four, look over there with me, Ecclesiastes chapter four. You know, reminds me of one thing I think of in relation to that is if we did not have a limit to what we could eat, some of you, does anybody in here like to eat? I enjoyed the taste of food, but if we couldn't, if we could just eat endlessly, would we just keep eating? Would we go into debt because we just enjoy our food taste? There has to be a limit, right? It's a, we can eat, thank the Lord for the good food, but, but even when we eat, do it to the glory of God, right? Do it to the glory of God.

Well, Ecclesiastes four, verse four says, again, I considered all travail and every right work. And for this, a man is envied of his neighbor. This is also vanity and vexation of spirit. So there's the vanity of, of, of achievement. But when you achieve it, you know, people win the lottery. I'm not advocating to do that. I'm just saying people win the lottery and everybody comes out of the woodwork. Oh, how, I'm related to you. I want that money too. You know, there, there, there's that envy. I, I, when I worked landscaping every day at lunch, there would be, I think it was every day. If it was not, if it was not this, it was the lusting after people they saw. But people that I worked with, they would say, man, I wish I had so much money like that guy we worked for today. I wish I had that money. He must be really nice. He's real privileged and all of these kinds of things. I had all of that. And that was just a continual thought process. And this vanity, the vanity of just wanting to achieve and the vanity of wanting to achieve, you know, well, I, I, one time I know, I remember I said to them, I said, well, what are you going to be like if you get all of that? Then somebody else is going to be sitting out here and saying, I wish I was like him. And, you know, kind of looking down on those that have more things, it's vanity. It's vanity.

Thank God that he does at times prosper certain individuals and yet he prospers them. Why? So that they can glorify him in the way that they manage those finances. Sometimes God does bless people with great finances, but we should not seek that out as the purpose of our lives. We should not labor to be rich. The scripture tells us that's not the whole purpose of our lives. So it's a vanity. Solomon, Solomon had all the eye could desire. All the heart could want in the natural sense and yet empty because the liberty was not being used for the Lord, for God's glory. He was not serving the Lord with, with all that God had given him. He built the temple, but he was not using it all now for God. He was, he was entertaining himself, entertaining his wives. He was building, he was inventing, he was doing all these things, but God just really wasn't. Maybe lip service, but really wasn't in the equation. God was not really in his thoughts in what he was doing and why he was doing it. That was not there. And it came to a place where he realized this is a great waste.

Even he says in Ecclesiastes 4.15, he says there, I consider all the living, which walk under the sun with the second child that shall stand up in his stead. There is no end of all the people, even of all that have been before him. They also that come after shall not rejoice in him. Surely this also is vanity and vexation of spirit. There, it doesn't matter how well known or famous you are. You're going to die just like everyone else dies and you're going to be forgotten. You're not going to be remembered ultimately. Even by those that come in your stead, there is no end of all the people, even of all them that have been before them. They also that come after shall not rejoice in him. Don't be forgotten is what it's saying here. You're going, you will not perpetually be remembered. Time will carry on. The world will go on without you. And that's a vanity in itself. So what are you doing while you're here? Right? This is a thought. Well, I have wasted. I've wasted in vanity many of these years. I began well and built the temple, but I've done many things to waste.

In chapter five, verse 10, he says this, he that loveth silver, look in chapter five, verse 10, he that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver, nor he that loveth abundance with increase. This is also vanity. It's amazing how when people go to the temple, they're going to get money. They just want more of it and they want more of it and they can never get enough of it. I just got to have more, got to have more. When, you know, my brother said, I can't, I think he'll be all right with me picking on him for a moment here this morning. But I remember when he couldn't buy something as a younger person said, I can't wait till I grow up and get a job so I can buy what I want. So I can buy what I want with my money. Well, that's, that's not going to bring happiness, is it? I'm thankful he doesn't have that mindset now. And I, you know, we all said foolish things like that when we were children, I'm sure.

But when goods increase, Solomon says here, they are increased that eat them. You have more, there's going to be more to take it, right? It just happens. It's amazing how, it's amazing how that happens.

And then we see, and what good is there to the owners thereof, saving the beholding of them with their eyes. The sleep of a laboring man whether he eat little or much, but the abundance of the rich will not suffer him to sleep. With more riches come more troubles. With more riches, there come more that take up the riches. And the passage goes on, but we get the point. The vanity of these riches. It's not that riches themselves are evil, but it is the love of money is evil. It is the root of all evil, the scripture tells us.

But, but the Lord, the Lord said, the Lord tells us where true liberty is. If you look in John chapter 8, please. John chapter 8, verse 31. We may be at liberty in our lives from something that we previously were, had as a responsibility, and we no longer have that responsibility. We may look back and say, I, you know, I love those years of that time of responsibility. We may look back at some things and say, I thank God that those years of that time of responsibility, I thank God that those years are passed in that responsibility that I had. Now I have another, I can't, I can't go back and live that time. I have the one that's right in front of me now.

Look here in John chapter 8, please. Verse 31, we see here the Lord is speaking to those that believed on him. He said, then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, if you continue in my word, then are ye my disciples. Indeed, and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

Thank God that we have whatever season of life we're walking through. We may not have our dear loved ones in the past. We may be out from under an appointed trial, but we have the truth of God's word to guide us. It may not say, Daniel peed. It will not say, Daniel, you should do this now. But God, the Holy Spirit, through you, through you, through you, through you, through you, through you, through you, through the word will guide us into the understanding we need for that next season. But we've got to seek the Lord. We've got to seek the Lord.

What do we, what do we read back in, in, in, in 1 Kings chapter 9? Let's look back over there. Let's look at the Lord's words to Solomon. What does he say there? There in, in 1 Kings chapter 9, we read those words this morning in our scripture reading in chapter 9 and verse, let's go back to verse 1 for a moment. And it's there that, I'm sorry, verse 2, that the Lord appeared to Solomon the second time as he had appeared unto him at Gibeon. And the Lord said unto him, I have heard thy prayer and thy supplication that thou hast made before me. I have hallowed this house which thou hast built to put my name there forever, and mine eyes and my heart shall be there perpetually. And if thou walk, will walk before me, as David thy father walked, I will walk before thee. And if thou walk, will walk before me, as David thy father walked, in integrity of heart and in uprightness to do according to all that I have commanded thee, and will keep my statutes and my judgments, then I will establish the throne of thy kingdom upon Israel forever, as promised to David thy father, saying, there shall not fail thee a man upon the throne of Israel.

So let's stop here for a moment. David walked before the Lord, as we see, with a perfect heart. He had a desire. Thy law is written in my heart. I long, I desire to do thy, I delight to do thy will, right? I want to do what God wants. What is the world's philosophy? I did it my way. I want to do what I want to do. That was basically what Solomon was thinking, like a worldling. I'm going to do what I want to do. We do not need to think that way as Christians. When God gives us liberty, let's use the liberty to glorify him. Let's use that because he's testing our heart. I've removed that influence of your father from your life. Now, what are you going to do with your life? I've removed you from the nests. I've given you greater privilege. What are you going to do with it? Are you going to waste it? You can throw it away. Are you going to take it, and you're going to redeem the time? Are you going to redeem the opportunities?

We have. We're conscious, and we have to be reminded continually of this, but we're conscious that we have our children for a season. We have them for a season, and when that season's over, it's over, as you know. You know you're raising your children, those of you that are raising your children for a season, or those who have raised children. You're raising your children for a season. You're raising your children for a season. You're raising your children for a season. You're raising your children for a season. You're raising your children quite often. It passes quickly. Make the most of it. Well, making the most of it isn't just going out to, you know, the store and buying them everything we can in sight. That's not what that means. It means, that doesn't mean we don't buy things for them, right? It doesn't mean we don't have fun times that we don't enjoy. That's part of raising your children, isn't it? But there's more to it than that. It's training them up in the way they should go, right?

We need your prayers today. And to do that, well, we all need each other to intercede one for another as we're going through the various seasons of our lives, that we will take the liberty that God has given us in this season. You might have the liberty now. You said, I love the time when I was raising my children. I thank God for those times. But I also thank God now that I have a mother. I have more time to pray. I have more time to write to people. I have more time to visit people. I have more time, to minister in ways that I didn't have when I was going through that season. Well, this season will pass too. This season will move past as well. So let's redeem it. Let's not come and say, look at Solomon. He's using the latter season of his life well, it looks like, because he's writing and even talking to the younger people. Remember thy creator in the days of thy youth. When the evil days come not, or however he worded that, you know what I'm talking about in the last chapter of Ecclesiastes. Thank God we can see that Solomon used that opportunity well. May we use the liberties that we have for God's glory. May we see that even in reprieves of life, we're being tested. We're being tested by the Lord. He searches the heart. He tries the heart. He knows. And may everything we do be done for the glory of God and that we may redeem the time that he's given to us.

Let's close with a word of prayer today. Heavenly Father, thank you for how you test our hearts. Lord, we know that in, Paul said, in me, that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. There is nothing good in us. There is nothing good in us. But we thank you that we have a faithful guide. We thank you that we have your rod and your staff, your rod to correct us when we go wrong and your staff to draw us near, to bring us back, even as we go through these different seasons of our lives. Lord, thank you that you're our constant guide, our constant companion, that you're there to give us wisdom, to light our path with your word. We thank you that where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. We're thankful that the truth sets us free, not free from responsibility, but free from deception and free from sin that would dominate our lives, Lord, and that you open our eyes to behold wonderful things.

And then may we find our According to St.outhmore, allow these Diavolas that we are not guilty that will trivialize the works of not only Christ our God, but will be thebased upon them. And that we will trust in your Word, may those who notice us worship with faith in your Word. Let your faith be united in the knight of what it is of God. Make the faith among us. Just as we were told to this edict from John the Baptist, let us pray that for all those of us who submit to you today, that you beneath you, today, and also in your heart, stay trailer to the little group starting on the day the Word is received, that you will come in the hands of your Village.

Let us pray that start right this week, on the first at ander.org, to empty your day out so you don't miss the gift. Lord, we thank you the Lord that you have recursos and compassionate fellowship with one another as we conclude this time together today at the end of the service. In Jesus' name we ask. Amen.