1. God will make a way.

Ezra 1:1-4 | The Story, Pg. 263

2. Things need to be different.

Ezra 3:3 | The Story, Pg. 264

3. Stay alert to the enemy’s schemes.

Ezra 4:3 | The Story, Pg. 265

“If we put first things first, we get the second things thrown in; but if we put second things first, we lose both the first and second things.”
C.S. Lewis

Happiness is like a butterfly; the more you chase it, the more it will elude you. But if you turn your attention to other things, it will come and sit softly.
C.S. Lewis

4. Remain open to correction.

Haggai 1:3-11 | The Story, Pgs. 266-267

If you want to be a winner in life, you have to find a way to humble yourself and take tough news to heart.

I. Outstanding Character

Dare to be Daniel / Dare to stand alone / Dare to have purpose firm / Dare to make it known.
Philip Bliss

II. Overcoming Courage

1. Death to Self-will.
2. Joy

Then King Nebuchadnezzar leaped to his feet in amazement and asked his advisers, “Weren’t there three men that we tied up and threw into the fire?”
They replied, “Certainly, Your Majesty.”
He said, “Look! I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed, and the fourth looks like a son of the gods.” Nebuchadnezzar then approached the opening of the blazing furnace and shouted, “Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out! Come here!”
So Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego came out of the fire, and the satraps, prefects, governors and royal advisers crowded around them. They saw that the fire had not harmed their bodies, nor was a hair of their heads singed; their robes were not scorched, and there was no smell of fire on them.
Daniel 3:24-27

III. Ongoing Commitment to be a positive influence on others.

A church that is on its knees with the windows open to Jerusalem is a church that is in danger from the world but safe from the lions!

Then King Darius wrote to all the nations and peoples of every language in all the earth: “May you prosper greatly! I issue a decree that in every part of my kingdom people must fear and reverence the God of Daniel.
For he is the living God
and he endures forever;
his kingdom will not be destroyed,
his dominion will never end. He rescues and he saves;
he performs signs and wonders
in the heavens and on the earth.
He has rescued Daniel
from the power of the lions.” So Daniel prospered during the reign of Darius and the reign of Cyrus the Persian.
Daniel 6:25-28

Many people don't know about God, but they do know about your God. They picture God through your life!

2 Kings 21:1-9

2 Chronicles 33:10-11

3 Phrases You Might Say if You are Choosing Your Way:
1. I don’t need to pray about this, I can do this.
2. Is this really that bad?
Justification is the first step away from God.
3. I know the Bible says_______ BUT……

2 Chronicles 33:12-13

2 Chronicles 33:21-23

Jeremiah 1:4-5

5 Scriptures to Speak and Pray Over this Generation:
Provers 3:7-8, Romans 12:2, Ephesians 6:11-12, Philippians 2:3-4, Acts 1:8

Jeremiah 1:6-8

2 Chronicles 7:13-16

If we want to see healing in our county and world it must first start with brokenness and repentance within the Church.

I. Isaiah saw God.

In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.” At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.
​​​​​​Isaiah 6:1-4

II. Isaiah saw himself.

“Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.” Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”
​​​​​​Isaiah 6:5-7

III. Isaiah saw the world.

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”
And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”
​​​​​​Isaiah 6:8

“I can tell you God’s address. He can always be found at the end of your rope.”
​​​​​​Dallas Willard

When King Hezekiah heard this, he tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and went into the temple of the Lord. He sent Eliakim the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary and the leading priests, all wearing sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz. They told him, “This is what Hezekiah says: This day is a day of distress and rebuke and disgrace, as when children come to the moment of birth and there is no strength to deliver them. It may be that the Lord your God will hear all the words of the field commander, whom his master, the king of Assyria, has sent to ridicule the living God, and that he will rebuke him for the words the Lord your God has heard. Therefore pray for the remnant that still survives.” When King Hezekiah’s officials came to Isaiah, Isaiah said to them, “Tell your master, ‘This is what the Lord says: Do not be afraid of what you have heard—those words with which the underlings of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me. Listen! When he hears a certain report, I will make him want to return to his own country, and there I will have him cut down with the sword.’”
​​​​​​II Kings 19:1-7

Now Sennacherib…sent messengers to Hezekiah with this word: “Say to Hezekiah king of Judah: Do not let the god you depend on deceive you when he says, ‘Jerusalem will not be given into the hands of the king of Assyria.’ Surely you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the countries, destroying them completely. And will you be delivered? Did the gods of the nations that were destroyed by my predecessors deliver them—the gods of Gozan, Harran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden who were in Tel Assar? Where is the king of Hamath or the king of Arpad? Where are the kings of Lair, Sepharvaim, Hena and Ivvah?”
​​​​​​II Kings 19:8-13

Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers and read it. Then he went up to the temple of the Lord and spread it out before the Lord. And Hezekiah prayed to the Lord: “Lord, the God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, you alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. Give ear, Lord, and hear; open your eyes, Lord, and see; listen to the words Sennacherib has sent to ridicule the living God. It is true, Lord, that the Assyrian kings have laid waste these nations and their lands. They have thrown their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for they were not gods but only wood and stone, fashioned by human hands. Now, Lord our God, deliver us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone, Lord, are God.”
​​​​​​​II Kings 19:14-19

I. We go to God first.

II. We go to God just as we are.

​There is no pretense in this prayer. Hezekiah is honest before God.
Vs. 16 “Read this for yourself…he’s threatening you!” He’s overrun many peoples and now he is threatening you and us!

We need to lay before God what is in us and not what we think ought to be in us.
​​​​​​C.S. Lewis

Acronym for prayer: ACTS

Adoration Wow!
Confession Sorry.
Thanksgiving Thanks.
Supplication Help!

Who or what we worship is the most important choice we make in life.

God invites us to enjoy all his gifts but to worship him only.

There was never anyone like Ahab, who sold himself to do evil in the eyes of the LORD, urged on by Jezebel his wife. He behaved in the vilest manner by going after idols, like the Amorites the LORD drove out before Israel.
1 Kings 21:25-26

“As the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word.”
1 Kings 17:1

Elijah went before the people and said, “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.” But the people said nothing.
I Kings 18:21

“Shout louder” he said. “Surely he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or busy, or traveling. Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened.” So they shouted louder and slashed themselves with swords and spears, as was their custom, until their blood flowed. Midday passed, and they continued their frantic prophesying until the time for the evening sacrifice. But there was no response, no one answered, no one paid attention.
1 Kings 18:27-29

Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come here to me.” They came to him, and he repaired the altar of the LORD, which had been torn down. Elijah took twelve stones, one for each of the tribes descended from Jacob, to whom the word of the LORD had come, saying, “Your name shall be Israel.”
1 Kings 18:30-31

“LORD, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. Answer me, LORD, answer me, so these people will know that you, LORD, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again.”
1 Kings 18:36-37

Then the fire of the LORD fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench. When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, “The LORD—he is God! The LORD—he is God!”
1 Kings 18:38-39

God invites us to enjoy all his gifts but to worship him only.

“Your father Solomon put a heavy yoke, burden on us, now if you lighten our load, lighten the harsh labor and the heavy yoke he put on us, we will follow you forever”
1 Kings 12:4 (Paraphrase)

If You Lighten Their Load

“It’s Not About You”

It’s All About You

Train up a child in accordance to their own way and when they are old they will not depart.
Proverbs 22:6

Jesus' First Miracle- Water to Wine

Do What Ever He Tells You To Do

His Yoke Is Easy His Burden Is Light

Jesus Will Lighten Your Load

Broken crayons still color

Now all has been heard;
here is the conclusion of the matter:
Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind.
Ecclesiastes 12:13

1. The Early Years

The king went to Gibeon to offer sacrifices, for that was the most important high place, and Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar. At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon during the night in a dream, and God said, “Ask for whatever you want me to give you.” Solomon answered, “You have shown great kindness to your servant, my father David, because he was faithful to you and righteous and upright in heart. You have continued this great kindness to him and have given him a son to sit on his throne this very day. “Now, Lord my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David. But I am only a little child and do not know how to carry out my duties. Your servant is here among the people you have chosen, a great people, too numerous to count or number. So give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong. For who is able to govern this great people of yours?”

The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for this. So God said to him, “Since you have asked for this and not for long life or wealth for yourself, nor have asked for the death of your enemies but for discernment in administering justice, I will do what you have asked. I will give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there will never have been anyone like you, nor will there ever be. Moreover, I will give you what you have not asked for—both wealth and honor—so that in your lifetime you will have no equal among kings. And if you walk in obedience to me and keep my decrees and commands as David your father did, I will give you a long life.” Then Solomon awoke—and he realized it had been a dream.
1 Kings 3:4-15 | The Story, Pg. 176

Biblical Wisdom: The skill to consistently apply common sense with a discerning spirit learned from experience or trusted mentors filtered through the Word and Will of God, leading to optimal success in life.

We, of course, have plenty of wisdom to pass on to you once you get your feet on firm spiritual ground, but it’s not popular wisdom, the fashionable wisdom of high-priced experts that will be out-of-date in a year or so. God’s wisdom is something mysterious that goes deep into the interior of his purposes. You don’t find it lying around on the surface. It’s not the latest message, but more like the oldest—what God determined as the way to bring out his best in us, long before we ever arrived on the scene. 
1 Corinthians 2:6-7 MSG

Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine.
Proverbs 3:9-10 | The Story, Pg. 180

2. Midlife

He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines, and his wives led him astray. As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father had been.
I Kings 11:3-4

3. End of life

“Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher.
“Utterly meaningless!
Everything is meaningless.”
Ecclesiastes 1:2

Now all has been heard;
here is the conclusion of the matter:
Fear God and keep his commandments,
for this is the duty of all mankind.
Ecclesiastes 12:13

In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, David sent Joab out with the king’s men and the whole Israelite army. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained in Jerusalem.
2 Samuel 11:1

After the time of mourning was over, David had her brought to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing David had done displeased the Lord.
2 Samuel 11:27

Blessed is the one whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the one whose sin the Lord does not count against them and in whose spirit is no deceit. When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy on me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer.
Psalm 32:1-4

The Lord sent Nathan to David. When he came to him, he said, “There were two men in a certain town, one rich and the other poor. The rich man had a very large number of sheep and cattle, but the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food, drank from his cup and even slept in his arms. It was like a daughter to him.

“Now a traveler came to the rich man, but the rich man refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the ewe lamb that belonged to the poor man and prepared it for the one who had come to him.”

David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan, “As surely as the Lord lives, the man who did this must die! He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity.”

Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man!

This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. I gave your master’s house to you, and your master’s wives into your arms. I gave you all Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more. Why did you despise the word of the Lord by doing what is evil in his eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.’

“This is what the Lord says: ‘Out of your own household I am going to bring calamity on you. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will sleep with your wives in broad daylight. You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel.’”

Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.”
2 Samuel 12:1-13a

Be willing to confess and repent of the sin quickly.

Matthew 28:1-10

I. He Descended

a. Temptation

He was tempted in every way that we were and yet without sin.
Hebrews 4:15

b. Pain

c. Rejection

d. God-forsakenness

He who knew no sin became sin on our behalf.
II Corinthians 5:21

e. Cursedness

Cursed is he that hangs on a tree.
Galatians 3:13

II. He Ascended

Therefore he is able to save completely (to the uttermost) those who come to God through him.
Hebrews 7:25

Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raise imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
I Corinthians 15:51-57

God will do things in your life that, in the moment, will resonate with you. You will feel it and know it to be God. God has made contact with you BUT it could take years for the fulfillment of the implication of that contact. The lesson: Be patient. Wait on the Lord. Promotion comes from the Lord.

1. Saul

Loyalty to the people of God.
Loyalty to the God of the people.

2. Goliath

The person who simply does what is right, with an innocent heart, will look manipulative, scheming and self-centered to those who are cynical.

When somebody hates you unreasonably (jealous, envious, hateful), the better you act the more they will hate you.

3. Michal

Women…you will never become a wife unless you stop becoming a daughter. You will never become a queen if you cannot stop being a princess.

4. Jonathan

Jonathan is a good and loyal friend who is not confused by divided loyalties or selfish ambition.