The World is Hurting. How Do We Live In It?

• I want you to go with me now over to First Kings chapter 10. You can tell your pastor’s taller than me. I have to be on my tiptoes to read my Bible on this table. It’s hilarious. This is a story of my life. When you’re 5 foot, nothing. Okay. Now, I want you to hear this. In First Kings 10, it says, we’re talking now about this. Awesome.
• The temple has now been built. Solomon has built the most glorious house for God. And so we come to first kings 10. It says, “The Queen of Sheba heard about Solomon’s fame connected with the name of the Lord.” So you I want to just preface for anyone that might have their hands folded right now.
• All this has got to do with the name of the Lord. All this has got to do with the fame of the Lord. All this has got to do with the glory of the Lord. So it’s connected to the name of the Lord. and came to test him with riddles. She came to Jerusalem with a very large entourage with camels bearing spices, gold in great abundance, and precious stones.
• She came to Solomon and spoke to him about everything that was on her mind. So Solomon answered all her questions. Nothing was too difficult for the king to explain to her. When the Queen of Sheba observed all of Solomon’s wisdom, the palace he had built, the food at his table, I want you to catch this detail.
• The food at his table, his servants, residence, his servants residence, his attendance, service, and their attire, and the burnt offerings he offered at the Lord’s temple. Look what happened. It took her breath away. She was breathless. She was breathless. She said to the king, “The report I heard in my own country about your words and about your wisdom is true.
• But I didn’t believe the reports until I came and saw with my own eyes. Indeed, I was not even told half. Your wisdom and prosperity far exceed the report I heard. How happy are your men? How happy are these servants of yours who always stand in your presence hearing your wisdom. Now look at the response. Blessed.
• Now remember, she’s a pagan queen. She the triune God is not her God. Blessed be the Lord your God. He delighted in you and put you on the throne of Israel because of the Lord’s eternal love for Israel. He has made you king to carry out justice and righteousness. So here she was the queen of Sheba, the queen of the Sebeians, basically southern Arabia where Yemen would be today.
• Now this woman, she was not going to see this house of God because she didn’t have anything of her own. She was the queen of Sheba. She was fine. There was a palace. There was loads of stuff. There was load. She wasn’t going to see the stuff. She wasn’t going because she needed any stuff.
• She No, no queen normally would go on a like 1500 mile camel ride for fun. You think getting into the parking lot is an issue? The chick was on a camel. I’m just saying. So, she took a 1500 mile camel ride because she had heard there’s something going on up there. She had heard there is wisdom in the leadership. She had heard there is something phenomenal about the people that are surrounded in that place.
• She had heard that there is a God that seems to be doing something in that place. And I don’t know him, but it is so worth navigating the traffic, navigating the freeway, navigating the parking lot that I might just get on a camel and go and see what is going on in that magnificent, glorious, exceedingly abundant house.
• And it was so amazing that it took her breath away. And what took her breath away was the people. It It wasn’t the temple, per se. It wasn’t the paint job. She had a lot of that going in her own place. It It wasn’t all the gold and the splendor that that that was She had enough of that of her own.