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GROUP Questions Practical Application Questions - 1 Kings 3:1-28 1. Without over-spiritualizing your answer, if God showed up on your way home tonight and told you to ask for whatever you want, what would you ask for? . COM NJ 2. What has been the toughest decision you’ve had to make lately? Looking back, do you feel your decision was wise? 3. What impresses you most about Solomon in tonight’s story? WWW . REMIX 4. Why do you think God asked Solomon to ask for whatever he wanted? 5. Where else in the scriptures did God offer an individual or group a blank check? 6. What are some plausible reasons why Solomon desired wisdom above anything else? 7. Sometimes, it builds one’s faith when you recount and acknowledge all God has done, can you think of three “unbelievable” things God did in or through your life this past year? Psalm 119:11 I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you 7. What are some natural gifts, talents, or innate abilities you’ve observed in your life? What would your prayers sound like if you began asking God to help you excel in those . COM areas of gifting? NJ 8. In light of your personal life experience, relationships, education, time in God’s word, and prayer life, where have you gained the most wisdom in your life? WWW . REMIX 9. What opportunities or decisions are you facing right now for which you need the wisdom God granted Solomon? THEREMIXMINISTRY theREMIX is the college and 20something ministry of Grace the church on the Mount. As part of a church- wide vision to raise up a generation of families that are built to last, our goal is to prepare young adults . COM to engage in healthy relationships at every level of their lives. NJ Hence, our worship gatherings are designed to equip young adults with biblical truths so that they in turn influence the people in their lives for Jesus Christ MATTHEW 22:37-39 WWW . REMIX Part four: ‘1 Kings 3:1-28’ series: ‘SUN STAND STILL’ If on your way home tonight son of the aging king David, he brought her to the City of after REMIX, you stopped at a was in his early twenties, and David until he finished building traffic light and out of nowhere, God is about to make him an his palace and the temple of the a bright, almost blinding light offer of a lifetime. LORD, and the wall around appeared, and there was no Jerusalem. 2The people, doubt in your mind and in Just so we have some context as however, were still sacrificing at actuality that it was Jesus Christ. to where we are. We are in the the high places, because a And if in that moment, He book of 1 Kings 3. King David temple had not yet been built looked favorably on you and has ruled Israel for 40 years and for the Name of the LORD. made this offer, “Ask for he’s old and frail, however right 3Solomon showed his love for whatever you want me to give before his death, he passes on the LORD by walking you.” the mantle of leadership to his according to the statutes of his twenty something year old son father David, except that he The question is, what would you Solomon. offered sacrifices and burned ask for? incense on the high places. Verse 1-4: “A CALL TO 4The king went to Gibeon to Some of you already know this, LEADERSHIP” offer sacrifices, for that was the but a scenario quite similar to most important high place, and that happened to a real “Solomon made an alliance Solomon offered a thousand individual in the bible. His with Pharaoh king of Egypt and burnt offerings on that altar.” name was Solomon, he was the married his daughter. He I think it’s accurate to say that after inheriting the kingdom from his father A few moments later, I David, Solomon had his fair share of decided ice cream cake . COM concerns to worry about as he began his reign as the 3rd king over Israel. Let’s wasn’t worthy of God and NJ review a few of them. changed my visualization to a stack of cash, which at the In previous chapters, we’re told that on time would have amounted to the very day he was made king, one of something around $42, (big his stepbrothers, (Adonijah) attempted a dreams have to start coup d'état, but failed. Secondly, his father David, prior to his death, had somewhere!). When all was warned Solomon to be wary of certain said and done, I had dreamt WWW . REMIX men who could do him harm – so he up everything from owning our had that additional worry on his mind. neighbors new car (forget the Thirdly, at the young age of 20, he’s fact that I couldn’t drive at the faced with the great responsibility of leading a nation that had the potential time), to being the coolest and for great good, or great evil. smartest kid at my school at the time. In addition to all of those burdens, verse 1 indicates that even at a young age, he was being sought after by foreign kings who wanted to form an alliance with him through marriage to their daughters. Not only did he have to be a diplomat and a good husband, he also Gibeon to offer sacrifices, for that was the I vividly remember in that moment had the arduous task of overseeing three most important high place, and Solomon visualizing a giant ice cream cake I had major building projects; his own palace, offered a thousand burnt offerings on seen on T.V and how amazing it would the defensive walls of his city, and the that altar. At Gibeon the LORD be if God would grant me a monster- first temple in Israel. appeared to Solomon during the night in slice, (delicious cake was a scarcity in Lest you think anyone in his position a dream, and God said, “Ask for Nigeria during those years!). A few could have done what he did because whatever you want me to give you.” moments later, I decided ice cream cake God was on his side, you should know wasn’t worthy of God and changed my that we don’t really hear much of the Though I asked this question visualization to a stack of cash, which at prophetic intervention we read of during hypothetically at the beginning of the the time would have amounted to his father’s reign as king. During David’s message, and though this is taking place something around $42, (big dreams have time as king, he had the prophets Samuel in a dream, there was (and is) nothing to start somewhere!). When all was said and Nathan to encourage or rebuke him hypothetical about this offer God was and done, I had dreamt up everything according to God’s word, but Solomon making. God was basically giving him a from owning our neighbors new car was sort of on his own. He didn’t really blank signed check in which he could put (forget the fact that I couldn’t drive at the have any of the prophets speaking to him in as many zeros as he wanted! time), to being the coolest and smartest during his reign. kid at my school at the time. Can we take a moment and just All that to say, if anyone needed a sun acknowledge how incredible this offer is? Now I don’t even remember what the rest stand still prayer, Solomon was a prime There are only a handful (or so) of of the message was that morning, but I candidate. This guy needed some serious people in the scriptures who had this kind do remember that over the next few divine intervention. of personal relationship with God where months, and maybe even years, I such an offer was made. continually found myself wondering what Now, the first few verses do indicate that I needed to do or change in my life so he might have had a divided heart on in My earliest memory of being in church that God would extend to me such an that he sometimes worshipped God in a involves hearing a message about this offer. manner contrary to what God had story. I must have been 10, maybe 11 instructed, but verse 3 compensates for years old at the time, and even then I The reality is that God has made that that fact by telling us that, “Solomon remember being stirred deeply by this same offer to you and I through His son showed his love for the LORD by account. I recall sitting next to some of Jesus Christ. It’s what the apostle John walking according to the statutes of his my friends while the Sunday school writes about in 1 John 5:14-15 when he father David…” teacher rambled on and on, and I didn’t says, “This is the confidence we have in snap to it until she got to this question, “if approaching God: that if we ask anything Verse 5: “AN OFFER OF A you were in Solomon’s shoes, what would according to his will, he hears us. 15And LIFETIME” you have asked?” if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we In fact God seems to have taken notice, asked of him.” because verse 5 says, “The king went to Verse 6-9: “A REQUEST FOR In his prayer, Solomon was essentially WISDOM” What has God done right in your life? asking God to grant him wisdom & What have you prayed for and seen God understanding, but here’s what’s .
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