Sunday Re-Cap 30th July 2006

LESSONS FROM SOLOMON
By Pastor Samuel Hari

Background:
Ecc 1: Solomon towards the end of his life is seen as a totally frustrated man, complaining about life. What made him this way? Are many of us in the same predicament? Frustrated and complaining about everything even though we’ve been Christians for years and know the bible cover to cover? Is more PRAYER and more WORD the answer?

Solomon’s life
1 Kgs 3: Solomon’s early life was full of great promises and answers from God. He had all the wisdom and all the knowledge and honor and riches. He even had a great manifestation of God (1 Kgs 8:10-11). Were all this enough to sustain his walk with God? Sometimes we think that all this is the purpose of our Christian walk. But what did it to do Solomon?

1 Kgs 11: 1-13: Solomon walked away from God in spite of all the great things he had and in spite of everything going great for him.

What keeps us “fresh” and excited about God? Is it more knowledge and more prayer? All these are extremely important foundations for our Christian walk but what keeps us going can be found in the life (and heart) of David.

Ps 51: Gives us a great glimpse into the heart of David. Some of these characteristics are:

1. Submission-“who am I submitted to?” It’s not about the one we’re submitted to but it’s about our own heart attitude.


2. Conviction-no amount of reading and praying the word will change us unless we have conviction. Too many times we read the pages without allowing the WORD to read us.


3. Repentance is a natural flow over from conviction. It’s no use repenting for the sake of repenting if there’s no conviction. FIRST conviction THEN repentance. Repentance is a total overhaul of the mindset. A renewing of the mind.


4. Obedience must follow repentance. Otherwise all we’ll be doing is repenting day in and day out.


5. This will lead to humility before God and one another.

The Conclusion of the Matter
We must be careful not to do the above in our own strength. Solomon gives us instruction in Ecc 12:9-14.
The Fear of God is essential in our walk with God. Without it, all of the above will make us not unlike any other religions in the world which is man’s attempt to please God. Let us FEAR GOD and KEEP HIS COMMANDMENTS though the strength of the HOLY SPIRIT.