 All right first Kings chapter 10 So tonight I'm gonna tell you a story I like to tell stories and this story is a little bit different than a lot of the stories You've probably heard me tell you know You're probably thinking about the story of you remember all the kids are smiling They're like oh, we're gonna talk about giant spiders again or you know the story that I told you know We're out hiking about the San Joaquin Valley River cave monkeys. They're not real brother Angel. I just made it up. Okay? This story is different though. This story is different. This story is in the Bible It's a great story. The stories in the Bible are great They're much better than any story we could ever come up with and they also apply to our lives Which is the great thing about the stories of the Bible So tonight we're looking at first Kings chapter 10 and we're looking at the story of Solomon and all the people so Solomon already has all the wisdom that God gave him and people are traveling all over the world to Hear the the wisdom of Solomon and to you know just ask him questions You know people it just goes to show people have always had questions in life And they would they've just had questions about things and it talks about you know how these people came and you know They asked Solomon these questions and then they gave him great treasures You know the main story we're looking at is the Queen of Sheba She came and she brought all these these treasures to King Solomon now look I mean a side note here is if you know you have answers to hard questions. You're probably going to do okay in life All right, so you know if you just if Solomon would have just gone to the Queen of Sheba would have come to him asked him questions And he just didn't have any answers. She probably wasn't going to leave him much Right, but he knew all the answers and it was much more than she ever expected look down at verse number one So I want to tell you this story and then you know I'll take a few minutes We'll look at the story and then I'll explain how it applies to us here How it applies to us in our lives how it applies to Verity Baptist Church Fresno as we're at our one year anniversary And let's just look at that tonight. So look at verse number one of first Kings chapter 10 The bible says and when the queen of sheba heard the fame of Solomon Concerning the name of the lord she came to prove him with hard questions She came to see if it was true She came to come and bring these hard questions that nobody knew the answers to to see if this Rumor was true about his great wisdom And she came to Jerusalem with very a very great train with camels that bear spices and very much gold And precious stones and when she was come to Solomon she communed with him of all that was in her heart And Solomon told her of all her questions and there was not anything hidden from the king which he told her not So he answered everything and when the queen of sheba had seen all of Solomon's wisdom and the house that he had built And the meat of his table and the sitting of his servants and the attendance of his ministers and their apparel And his cup bears and his ascent by which he had wept went up into the house of the lord There was no more spirit in her he answered everything and not only did he answer all her questions She looked at how you know, he was he was managing his kingdom She looked at how he was he was treated by his servants and how you know Just how this man was prosecuting his life and he answered every single question He didn't give her political answers that were splitting hairs and not really answering the he wasn't dodging questions He answered every single question Correctly to the way that she wanted and look at verse number 10 for sake of time And then the bible says and she gave the king 120 talents of gold and of spices very great store And precious stones there came no more such abundance of spices as these which the queen of sheba Gave to king Solomon so the queen of sheba is the main example of what was happening to Solomon But this was happening to Solomon from all over the world people were Sending him treasures and asking him questions and he was just his wisdom Was basically just how he gained and acquired all his wealth that was also a blessing from the lord Look at verse number 16 This verse number 16 tells us what Solomon did with just some of the gold in verse number 16 The bible says and king Solomon made 200 targets of beaten gold 600 shekels of gold went to one target and he made 300 shields of beaten gold Three pound of gold went to one shield and the king put them in the house of the forest of leaven on So he makes these targets the targets are a bigger shield So he basically makes all these golden shields So he makes it the the big ones were like if you work out the You know the the archaic weights and everything they're about 15 pounds of gold And the small ones were three pounds of gold. I mean that's that's a lot of gold when you look at you know gold today You know how much it's worth But the the guy just had all kinds of gold So he makes these part of his riches and then you can read about the things that he overlaid and gold and all These things but it's interesting because he makes these shields With some of the gold that he gets from the queen of sheba So look these shields can really represent God's wisdom god's gift of wisdom onto king Solomon because that is what gained him all the treasures that he got It's where his treasures came from it's where king Solomon's treasure I mean, how many do you know how many books and how many movies and how many different like Historical accounts have been written about king Solomon's treasure I remember I read a book like 15 20 years ago about this theory Of where the treasure ended up and I don't I guess there's a stupid show about it now But it was like though the knights Templar found king Solomon's treasure And they they got kicked out of europe and they took it over to and it was the greatest treasure that anyone could ever imagine on the earth You know they they've estimated. I can't even remember what they estimated it to be But it's this huge mystery of where this treasure those books and books and books and studies and studies and studies have Have written about where this treasure Went where did it go? But guess what the bible tells us where it went The bible tells us like in just a few chapters where the treasure went and what and not only where it went But why it went there? I mean aren't you isn't this an exciting story? We know where king Solomon's treasure is You don't have to go and watch all the dumb movies or watch the show on oak island or whatever You know, we know where it went And we know where they came from and we know why they were taken away Is really the point. I want to make tonight fast forward to first kings chapter 14 First kings chapter 14. Let's look at the kingdom Of rey aboam who is Solomon's son rey aboam now, of course, we all know the story rey aboam lost the kingdom the kingdom split Underneath rey aboam. That's not what we're going to focus on on this evening So in chapter 12 of first kings, you know, it's a judgment on Solomon first of all You know, rey aboam's pride basically helped god's judgment come to light So in first number or chapter number 12 rey aboam You know has the kingdom split where two or three tribes go with rey aboam to the lower kingdom of juda And that's where we get the northern kingdom of israel is in first kings chapter 12 But it's interesting to point out that rey aboam even after his mess up where he you know God judged Solomon and he judged the kingdom under Solomon, you know through his son rey aboam It's interesting that rey aboam still had a kingdom to lead rey aboam still had the lower kingdom of juda that he was in charge of He was still the king over that lower kingdom. Now look at first kings chapter 14. Let's look at how he did With that lower kingdom. He's already the split has already happened. He's he was told not to go to war God said look this thing was of me He's like this was judgment on your father judgment on Solomon And you know, I just used your stupidity basically to make the judgment come true And in verse number 14 we see how rey aboam prosecutes his leadership on the lower kingdom of juda Look at verse number 21 And the bible says in rey aboam the son of Solomon reigned in juda Rey aboam was 40 and one years old when he began to reign And he reigned 17 years in jerusalem the city which the lord did choose out of all the tribes of israel To put his name there and his mother's name was namah of the aminitis And namah the anaminitis And juda did evil in the sight of the lord and they provoked him to jealousy With their sins which they had committed above all that their fathers had done Doesn't sound like they're doing so well in the lower kingdom here. Look at verse 23 For they also built them high places And images and groves on every hill and under every green tree and it gets worse Verse 24 and there were also sodomites in the land and they did according to all the abominations Of of the nations which the lord cast out before the children of israel So imagine that sodomites doing abominations I mean imagine that right look rey aboam lost the united kingdom as it split. We know this But we know this was also due to his pride and mainly god's judgment coming through On solomon on his pa and solomon's past disobedience to him. But look he still had a kingdom to rule And he blew it there too He blew it He forgot the lord He allowed evil into his kingdom He you know worship idols he allowed the sodomites in you know to do all these abominations look at verse 25 And it's interesting because now we hear about some of solomon's treasure that he built up And this is where solomon's treasure went right here I mean it wasn't even that long after solomon was gone that the treasure was lost first king's chapter 14 Look at verse 25 and it came to pass in the fifth year of king rey aboam That shishak the king of egypt came up against jerusalem And he took away the treasures of the house of the lord and the treasures of the king's house And he even took away all look he took everything And he took away all the shields of gold which solomon had made And king rey aboam made in their stead So he lost everything he lost all the treasure that his dad That that the blessings that god put on his dad were all lost now all those physical Worldly blessings that came from solomon's wisdom. They were all lost and specifically the bible tells us that the shields of gold Which solomon had made they were taken as well The bible points that out that those shields were taken away and then in verse 27 We see that rey aboam does something here And king rey aboam made in their stead brazen shields And committed them under the hands of the chief of the guard which kept the door of the king's house And it was so when the king went into the house of the lord that the guard Bare them and brought them back into the guard chamber. So look these shields that were once a symbol of god's blessing Were now something that were just used as a show for rey aboam When he went to the house of the lord he had these shields brought out And you know it was used as a show So when he went to the house of the lord these shields people were walking with these shields with him And then when he got to the house of the lord they put them away. But look not only were they used as a show They were fake They weren't even real They were brazen. They were made of brass. You know what brass looks like when it's all polished up Kind of looks like gold So he faked the shields He lost everything But then he made fakes to make it look like he was still you know, he still had what he didn't have anymore So you say man, he's like, what does that have to do with us? Well, first of all, it's a good story and you don't have to read anymore stuff about You know the knight's temple or taking salamence because it was already gone by the year 1500, you know 15 Century or whatever was already gone. I mean it had already been taken away. So how does that apply to us? How does it apply to Verity Baptist Church in Fresno, California? So we've been here For one year I don't know how that's happened, but we're you know, look We're here today to celebrate how awesome all this is That we've been here for one year. We're here to have a great weekend. We're here to fellowship like you know Like that. It's like the biggest side benefit Of having a good church. It's just like all the fellowship that just comes on this on the fringes Right, it's not the purpose like pastor said this morning, but it's it's a nice little It's a nice little bonus But look, I submit to you today this evening that we've been given some golden shields here I submit to you that we've been given some golden shields in Fresno. We've inherited those shields In Fresno as Rehoboam inherited the shields from Solomon You say, what are those? You know, look, we've inherited a lot of blessings here Maybe you think maybe you think, you know, let me say this Maybe some of you come here from Sacramento and you're like boy things seem like Let me just talk about this for a second before I get into the the shields that we've that we've inherited But look You may come here from Sacramento and see say like what this looks a lot like Verity Baptist Church in Sacramento When he reads the announcements, it sounds the Bolton kind of looks the same They kind of talk about the same types of things things seem to operate in the same way Let me tell you something. There's nothing wrong with duplicating success I mean, there's nothing wrong in the world like don't be this type of person in your life Where every idea needs to be your own. This is a side sermon here I mean, if you are this type of person, you're going to miss a lot of good things In your life, don't be this type of person that needs to reinvent every wheel Because you know because you need to be your wheel Verity Baptist Church Fresno, we we we've inherited some success and there's nothing wrong with duplicating success nothing at all I mean Verity Baptist Church in Sacramento is coming up on its 10 year anniversary in a few weeks I mean, I can't I mean, it's an extremely successful ministry Look that is not an accident That is not an accident as we reflect on one year I want to look at a few areas that are golden shields passed down to us And you know, we need to duplicate success here when we see it When we see success, we need to duplicate success We could go off in our own area We could go off, you know, be these people that hey, I'm going to try it this way But you know, there's a lot of mistakes a lot of pitfalls with that type of thinking You know, I often said, you know, I think in my life and especially my secular career Maybe one out of 10 ideas is a good one And it's recognizing the nine that aren't good and getting rid of them as soon as possible that makes you successful But look, if you're in a room and you you see successful people and you know Look, you can take their one idea too And then there's more than just one out of 10. There's, you know Five out of 50 to choose from There's nothing wrong with duplicating success So what are these areas? What are these golden shields that I'm talking about? There's a lot of them I just picked three for sake of time But here's the first one Here's the first one turn to Matthew chapter seven Here's a golden shield that we've been given at Verity Baptist Fresno that we need to protect Look practical preaching is a golden shield Practical preaching is a golden shield Look at Matthew chapter seven and verse number 24 Matthew chapter seven and verse number 24 the bible says therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine Look at the next words Whosoever heareth these sayings of mine and do with them I will liken him unto a wise man Which built his house upon a rock and the rain descended and the floods came and the winds blew and beat upon that house And it fell not for it was founded upon a rock And everyone that heareth these sayings of mine and do with them not Shall be likened unto a foolish man which built his house upon the sand And the rain descended and the floods came and the winds blew and beat upon that house and it fell And great was the fall of it. I was talking to brother Stucky The other day and and we were talking about how thankful we are that we came out of this culture of practical preaching That we came out of this culture that is preaching look that that not only teaches you what the bible says But teaches you how to actually do it in your life Because look you could be a really smart fool When it comes to the bible And I mean the bible says look the bible says it's the difference between You know your foundation being a rock and being the sand whether or not you do with it Whether or not it's not you know just knowing the bible it's doing what the bible says That's where the practical preaching comes in like hey, we're going to teach you what the bible says Now we're going to teach you how to tell you how to put it on your life We're going to tell you how to some things you need to change Some things that you need to fix and why what you're doing in certain situations is not what the bible says It is going to make your hobby do you ever wonder why so many people seem like You ever you ever met somebody it seems like the wind just blows a little bit And they're just completely knocked off their christian life We're just some small things happen or maybe even a you know a mediocre things happen They're just knocked out of the christian life or they're just they're just backpedaling in the christian life. It's because It's because they're not practicing what the bible says. That's what it is Right, so that's why we're thankful for the practical Preaching I mean just this that it's it's made me the kind of preacher that I am To make the messages the way that I do brother stuckey said the same thing To just make these messages and it's because of it's because of the golden shield that we inherited From our teacher Who teaches practical preaching Who tells you not only what the bible says is knowledgeable about the what the bible says But shows you how to put that on your life. Look, it would be easy to replace this I'm telling you trust me It would be easy to replace this with a with a brazen shield Because as i'm writing sermons And i'm thinking about the applications and i'm thinking about the church as i'm writing the sermons and i'm like who Many times I think people aren't going to like this If I say that Many times I think man is that is that going to offend some folks? If I apply this here If I apply this here Many times I think that but I just write it down anyway because look It would be it would be easy for someone to not do it You know to never say anything could that could slightly offend people that that would be an easy thing for people to do To go against in what you say to go against to literally You know apply things that are against the way you know people sitting in the pews are doing things now I mean that can be a little bit of an uncomfortable situation It would be easy to replace that shield and turn it to brass And look a lot of people do that A lot of people do that today You know, I mean it'd be easy to just preach a feel-good message every single sunday It would be really easy to just get up here and just tell you all how awesome you are And how you know, you're awesome and just stay awesome and I don't even know how to do it. I can't even do it right Okay, but the point is look it's easy for people to fall into It's easy. I mean a salvation message every sunday you ever been at one of those churches That's how that happens Because it's just a it's just a good message all the time. Look salve I mean salvation message. There's nothing wrong with a salvation message But if you're saved you need a salvation message today I mean if you're a saved, you know person that's ruining your family. Do you need a salvation message? Look, it would be easy to do it. Sometimes sometimes like sometimes growth hurts Growing as a church it might hurt a little bit to hear a message that You know says, you know, I I need to change in this area I need to fix the way my family operates I need to I mean I need to flip some I mean You want to come to church and feel good and eat some cookies and go home and sleep You don't want to be like man. I got to flip my whole life around now I mean it's work. It hurts When you go home and you tell your wife like we're doing it all wrong and we got to fix things We got to change things. We can't go here. We can't do this. We can't see those people We can't do this with the kids. We have to change everything. Look, that is not an easy thing for most people to do Growth hurts, that's why people turn that shield to brass And that's why you don't see that golden shield much anymore As pastor said this morning, you don't see that You don't see that golden shield much anymore What's another one turn to first Corinthians chapter 14 Turn to first Corinthians chapter 14 Here's another one A biblically run church is a golden shield First Corinthians chapter 14. Look A biblically run church is a golden shield that we've inherited and that you don't see much anymore Many times it would be much more comfortable to just let things go Especially at the time it just like just go the way anybody and anybody wants to go But it would be a disaster It would be a complete Disaster and the bible tells us this first Corinthians 14 40 says let all things be done decently and in order And then the bible gives us all that order. We preach sermon series about this the order You know first Corinthians 5 11 all the things that we're supposed to do. Look What did brand boom do? He just let the wicked abominations in and you just let them stay And you just I mean He lost everything because of it. That's one of the things that he did. Look we could let We could let Sin in here I mean people do it I mean, did you know? I mean, you do know Because you've we've been here for a year. You do know that there's certain things that we just won't allow here Look, that's not that's not comfortable I mean Galatians 5 9 a little 11 11th the whole lump. Look that would mean that you know, I mean forget the sodomites. They're never coming in here I mean, that's an easy one. But look we could let We could let sin in here And then you know what would happen People would fall into sin It would spread You say, oh you're you're mean for saying that you know You can't allow certain sins in the church like drunkenness and fornication and all these things. Look It's loving It's loving we let sin in and the leaven spreads And the kids they grow up. They think this place is a joke And you're a joke You get up there and you yell about sin and it's a joke Everybody knows that all this sin is going on in this church It'd be a joke I mean people would leave the church people would because Bible-believing Christians who are actually reading their Bible We actually encourage you to read your Bible and know what it says So if some person gets up here and says something that's stupid and unbiblical and wrong, you know People would leave the church people could turn to Jeremiah 23 People could quit the christian life I mean I've heard pastor and other people say that you know the average church life of of a christian today It's like seven years five years. I've heard before I mean What is happening? What is happening here? If people get right and get in church and then you know, they fall out. I mean sin is happening That's what's happening Look at Jeremiah 23. So yeah, these things that might seem comfortable at first Would turn into complete disasters and they would ruin people Jeremiah 23 and look there's danger for the leadership too Jeremiah 23 says woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pastor That's what a pastor or a leader of a ministry that just lets sin in and just doesn't run the church biblically It just lets whatever go they're scattering the sheep It says woe be unto them when god says woe be unto you That's not where you want to be Well, okay, I mean at the time at the time. I mean look it would be just much easier just to let things go Because it's not comfortable. It's not comfortable having those conversations. You know church discipline. That's why most churches don't do it anymore That's why look I've been in churches my whole life. I've never even heard of it before this church Verity Baptist church I've never even heard of it, but it's right there in the bible So look we're going to keep that golden shield And I'm not talking about just church discipline, but look we're going to we're going to protect this church We're going to biblically run this church decently and in order That's what we're shooting for here And you all you know you all are helping you know for that goal But I mean look the bottom line is we need to protect protect this church. I mean truth is truth And people are coming after the truth today. They don't want They don't want to hear the truth. They don't want other people speaking the truth It's getting I mean it getting a little scary out there so We see that we need to keep these golden shields We need to keep the biblically run church We I mean we see the golden shield of practical preaching and what that can do to turn our lives around and help us out And keep us in this christian life, but here's the real big one right here The golden shield that we have been given that we can never let go It will be fatal if we let it go Turn to revelation chapter one is this it's the first works It's the golden shield of the first works Turn to revelation chapter one look at verse number 20 revelation chapter one in verse number 20 The bible says the mystery of the seven stars which thou saw us in my right hand and the seven golden candlesticks The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches and the seven candlesticks which thou saw us are the seven churches Look at revelation chapter two in verse number one. It's interesting that The candlestick there is not necessarily in the church. The candlestick is the church In revelation chapter one look at verse number one of of revelation chapter two The bible says, you know, you know, god, you know, Jesus is rebuking You know a church here and the bible says under the angel of the church of Ephesus right These things that he had hold at the seven stars in his right hand who walketh in the midst of the seven golden Candlesticks I know thy works and thy labor like we talked about this morning and thy patience And how thou can can't not bear them which are evil. So they're doing some good things here Okay, they're not letting evil in and thou has tried them which say they are apostles and are not and has found them liars Look, they're kicking the false prophets out. They're kicking the evil out. I mean, they're not they're doing some good things They're not doing everything wrong here And has borne and has patience and for my name's sake has labored and has not fainted. Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee because thou has left thy first love remember therefore from whence thou art fallen and repent turn Change change the way you're going And do the first works or else or what or what god Or else I will come unto thee quickly and remove thy candlestick out of its place Thou repent Look, he's like he's like or you're not going to be a church anymore. How's that sound? I'm going to take a piece of furniture out of the corner. He's like the candlestick is the church He's like you stopped him. He's you're doing good things. You're not letting evil in You're kicking all these false prophets out. Ray bone mess those up Ray bone messed all those up But they forgot the first works and guy's like hey, you better turn that around Oh, or you're not going to be a church anymore period We're going to pay attention to this one Look, we've inherited a golden shield of emphasis and a culture that is focused on the first works here at Verity Baptist Fresno Going into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature That's that's like the easiest verse in the whole bible to understand If we lose that we don't just lose a candlestick folks We lose the very church We lose the church Look, I mean, you know what we could do though You know what we could do We could replace the golden candlestick with a brass one Well, you don't think people do that It looked good It looked really good. It looked like gold To the world To the world it looked like gold to those around us. It looked like gold I mean the brass looked from a distance. It looked like gold But to god it's brass Sorry, you got to have a golden one Sorry, not a church to god If we lose that golden candlestick We are dead Ever been in a dead church? Yep We've all or a lot of us have been in dead churches You know the church the church dies, you know, I kind of like Look at it trends of things. It seems like this is the trend the church dies Dead church candlestick gone The church dies and then they have two choices. They either go like Mega liberal liberal church Or they just go slow dying dwindling slow death church I mean, that's why you see all these these big Mega liberal churches. They're just like, hey, all right. All right. We're dead We're dead. Let's just change the message. It's just going to be this super hyper You know, everything's going to be great. You guys are great. You come to church more often Give more money. It always comes back to money with the mega liberal stuff It always comes back to that give more money come here and like everything's going to be great for you You know, we'll just give you we'll just give you some spiritual, you know heroin For a couple days and we'll send you off And you can just become whatever you were before you walked in the door And we won't tell you anything that matters and you know, maybe they even have the right gospel some of these dead churches I mean, I've seen those too. They have the right gospel, but they're just dead They're not doing the first works turn to Proverbs chapter three So look, we don't want we don't want that to happen here That's like the that's like the you're not going to survive that one You're not going to live through that Right. That's a that's a fight that if you go into that fight, you're not going to get a broken arm. You're going to die I mean God that's why God tells us this that's why he gives us the examples of the the churches in revelation Well, he's talking to us He's saying if you do this you're dead Don't do it or you'll die You won't be a church. Look at Proverbs three three or look at your bulletin So how do we how do we not get there? How do we not have that happen to us? Look at Proverbs three three the bible says let not mercy and truth forsake thee Bind them about thy neck write them upon the table of thine heart. So the bible says, I mean look, we know what the truth is We heard about the pillar of the truth this morning But look the bible says let not mercy In truth. Look if you start losing mercy in your life, you know who you're going to eventually end up losing mercy for the lost Think of this person that's just unmerciful eventually You know, oh you say i'm just unmerciful to this guy But eventually that's going to spread In your life and you know, you're a danger ultimately of losing mercy for the lost And then that leads to this fatal Condition for a church if everybody gets that way or enough people get that way See, I mean we need to study and learn the bible but mercy is right there with truth folks It's it's right there with it If we lose the heart for the lost I mean when i'm trying to get at is like if we lose the heart for lost people I mean, do you have a heart for lost people? If you don't I mean if you don't have a heart for lost people and you're going Soul winning and you're just going through the motions with something's wrong Something's wrong Red flag look. I'm happy that you're soul winning We're all happy that you're soul winning But if you're soul winning because I'm telling you to go soul winning something's wrong You need to have that mercy and that heart for the lost because if this whole church Verity Baptist Fresno Goes down this road where we're soul winning because we're supposed to and not because we have a heart And we have mercy towards the lost. We risk the very church everything Turn of romans 10 even paul Even paul. I mean, he's just ripping face Against the jews. I mean he's telling him. I mean He's just beating them down Think of romans 9 10 and 11. He's like you've been cut off He's like, you know the gent. I mean and then I mean can you imagine the jews? They were these these hypocrites. They were high and mighty. They were the the religious People of the day and he's like man. He's like the gentiles. They couldn't they were disgusted with the gentiles He's like the gentiles have been grafted in You've been cut off and they've been grafted in I mean, he's just he's just I mean as much as he was tearing into the jews Look at romans 10 1. I mean look, I mean they killed steven Because of what he was saying. I mean he was just offending them like crazy the jews They were they were like trying to kill all these guys that were saying this stuff. They were so offended about it But in the midst of all that look at romans 10 1 he says brethren My heart's desire and prayer to god for israel is that they might be saved Is that they would recognize what they had done and they would they would recognize jesus christ the savior I mean the whole point in his heart. Where was his heart his heart towards them was that they might be saved How same way you were saved believing on the lord jesus christ So like if we lose, I mean let's just work the equation backwards Let's work the equation backwards If you don't do the first works You don't have the heart for the lost And and at some point you lost mercy So if we can see that that's the trend we can recognize it up front folks That's why mercy is in proverbs three three. That's how important it is If you lose that in your life Look, you risk you risk Your heart towards lost people you risk your desire to fulfill the great commission I mean that's a scary place to be and is and is that I mean that's a scary place as an individual As a christian, but if it gets to the church like that That look that we could still have the truth here folks But a brass candlestick is not going to cut it Is not going to cut it with god At all So that is the golden. I mean that is is the golden shield that if we give up it will kill us I I want to say it Like 10 times so you understand And if your heart isn't right Verity baptist church fresno Something's wrong Something's wrong You should want to go out with that golden shield. That's the look. That's the golden shield that we've inherited That is the culture of this church. It will always be the culture of this church is to do the first works And to go out there and carry the gospel to a lost fresno to a lost Wherever else in these little towns around here and to a lost and dying world That is our job So if we need to cherish These golden shields that we've been given But here's just one last thing that I want to point out about these golden shields And I could go on and on about golden shields that we've inherited I could go on and on but here's the thing Look, I had a I had a wrestling match When I had a lot of wrestling matches, but I had a wrestling match that just sticks in my head from my high school days I think I was a junior in high school. He was at the state tournament really important wrestling match And I had this the thing about wrestling tournaments is this It's a good thing and a bad thing you get to you you have the brackets They put the brackets like who you're going to wrestle on the wall And then as soon as round one goes they change the brackets and you get to stare at that bracket And find out who you're going to wrestle for like two hours before the match And I remember I had this one particular match and they always put the guy's name and we look it's North Dakota We know who everybody is All right, and they always put the guy's name and then they put his record Underneath his name. So you get to see I mean, you know who he is and how good he is But they put that record there just to stick it in your face Right, so I mean my bracket was up there for my next match that was coming up in a couple hours And I still remember the number the guy that I was wrestling I won't say his name. I remember his name too. That's how it was tattooed on my brain. He was 42 and 2 On the year this was the last tournament of the year that means he had 42 wins And he only lost twice In the whole year and I kept looking at that and I knew who this guy was. It's like 42 and 2 42 and 2 You know, I mean I wasn't terrible. I was like 36 and 6 or something But 42 and 2 is better than 36 and 6 And I stared at that bracket and my dad like always hated me looking at those brackets And I went into that wrestling match and I went into that wrestling match And I lost by a few points And I came off the mat and the first thing that my dad said to me Is he said and you think about this new sensitive parents This is what my dad said to me first thing. He said you beat yourself Because he knew he was watching the wrestling match and he knew that I was trying not to lose I wasn't going out there trying to win. I was trying to stop everything that was coming at me But I wasn't trying to win. I was just trying not to lose that never works In anything Here's the thing Verity Baptist Fresno Ray aboam Ray aboam He started with those golden shields He started with the golden shields He didn't have to go out and be wise and gain that gold and have his craftsmen make the golden shields He started with them and he lost them He started with the golden shields like we're starting With the golden shields It is our job to use those golden shields We need to keep that golden shield of mercy and not replace it with the brazen shield of hypocrisy We need to keep that golden shield to protect this church and the way it runs and protect this from the evil out in the world And not replace it with the brazen shield of complacency Imagine a church that preaches the word of god, but doesn't practice the word of god. There's a lot of them We're going to keep that golden shield A practical preaching A church that knows what the bible says that preaches read your bible know what the bible says and then do what the bible says And then watch it work in your life And you will see it You will see it makes sense. We I mean a girl today said to us We were giving her the gospel and just like again and again It was it's it's wonderful when they just get it like this. She's just like that just makes so much sense That just makes so much sense. I mean she must have said it 10 or 12 times I'm like, do you understand? Yeah, that that just that just makes so much sense because she's been confused her whole life By the catholic church or whoever catholic church in this case because look that's some confusing stuff It just makes so much sense It makes so much sense that it's a gift and that it's that it's free and it's forever And then if we apply the practical Teaching of the bible to our lives. I mean, we'll just see that it's not god Just trying to like puppet master your life for for fun I mean, he's trying to help us here So rey abomb lost not only He lost not only the kingdom, but he lost all the blessings that Solomon had bestowed on him Through his wisdom And everything the golden shields were a symbol of that and look folks brazen shields won't cut it They're not going to cut it in this game that we're playing And he walked to the temple under guard I love that part, you know with that notice how he didn't use silver I mean silver is is worth more than brass He he he used brass because he wanted it to look like the old thing That doesn't cut it That means nothing That means nothing in this game that we're playing Looking the part means nothing We have to be the part We have to have the real thing Look, you know, I mean that's kind of a scary thing like going into the ministry when you think about it When you think about it, you know, you're going to go into the ministry You want to have a real church and and you know, you can't fake it You can't fake it It's real or you're going to die You know have a nice have a nice day It it's look You can't turn the candlestick to brass. That's the ultimate lesson here We have it doesn't work with God The church when the candlestick is brass and it's been removed There may be a building and there are people coming to the building, but the church is gone at that point We've all been there. I walked all your heads go like this when I said you ever been in a dead church Everybody's been there Everybody's been there Look, if here's the thing Verity Baptist Fresno We're going to protect these golden shields here Especially the golden candlestick And we know how to protect it because look here's the bottom line If the Lord's not in it, I don't want any part of it And you should you should feel the same way Thank you for for a wonderful year. You all are great We're we're growing and thriving together I I shouldn't say I'm proud of of of all of you And I'm not proud But I just it's the joy of my life to watch you all grow And grow together and this Christian life. So thank you Let's let's have a nice evening. Thanks for being here everybody. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer