digital. Nothing to give. You That's why he's trying to grow some hair is that the part of the. Dude is that part of the motivation or you know going to talk to me to Moria now Ok. First Kings Chapter 11 we continue to forge ahead in our for me it's been an amazing study of of wisdom and being wise among fools and as we said last weekend the emphasis has now shifted pretty much away from Solomon Solomon's kind of fading from the scene and although he'll have a brief appearance of a cameo at the end today of the reading we know that God's plans are moving on and that we now rather than looking at how we behave and whether or not we are being wise or foolish we now are getting a fuller glimpse at the wisdom of God and as I said and I think I said it last week and I'll repeat it again the wisdom of God is not easy to comprehend in fact you're going to reach a point and I promise you you're going to reach a point with the wisdom of God are you going to come up against something and say I don't understand that how many of you know what I'm talking about I don't get that that doesn't make sense to me if I was in charge that's not how I would do it that doesn't seem to be wise last week's text is a good example of that we're told that God raised the op adversaries not only one but 2 adversaries against Solomon because God in His wisdom knew that's what Solomon needed so I say to you today that God's will. Is them constantly at work God is constantly on the move constantly His away and his ideas and his thoughts and his this is John's and his implementation it is on the move and even though I reach those places those walls where I cannot go beyond that in understanding I say to you today there is no safer or better place for you to be then under the wisdom of God and in is hands and knowing that God is working and you can trust him as I said where we're coming to a text today last week's text focus on the adversaries from the outside notice what verse 26 says also Jeroboam son of ne bat rule rebelled rather against the king so now Solomon has another adversary only this one is from the inside he was one in fact look at he was one of Solomon's officials and a for a might from Rita and his mother was a widow name. Here is the account of how he rebelled against the King Solomon had built the supporting terraces and had filled in the gap in the wall of the City of David his father Jeroboam I've been calling him Jerry b. All week Jared be a little nickname now Gerry b. Was a man of standing and when Solomon saw how well the young man did his work he put him in charge of the whole labor force of the house of Joseph the people that are inside the closest sometimes that create the most difficulty and yet when you read this you see God's on the move about that time Jeroboam was going out of Jerusalem and a high judge the prophet of Shiloh met him on the way wearing a new cloak. Just got him and he had just gotten a new suit and it's all nice and good to go the 2 of them were alone out in the country and took hold of the new cloak he was wearing and he tore it into 12 pieces and then he said the jury be. Take 10 pieces for yourself for this is what the Lord the God of Israel says See I'm going to tear the kingdom out of Solomon's hand and give you 10 tribes but for the sake of my servant David in the city of Jerusalem which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel he will have one tribe I know the math doesn't figure there because 12 minus 10 equals 2 is great theological debate about this but what I can say to you without getting all bogged down it is eventually the southern kingdom were the tribes of Judah and Benjamin and the Northern Kingdom were the other 10 Ok I will do this here's God giving his reason I will do this because they have 1st saken me and worshiped asterisk's the goddess of the side only as to Marsh the God of the Moabites and Molech the God of the am in the eyes and have not walked in my ways know or done what is right in my eyes nor kept my statutes and laws as David Solomon's father did but I will not take the whole kingdom out of Solomon sand I have made him ruler all the days of his life for the sake of David my servant whom I chose and who observes my commands and statutes I will take the kingdom from his son's hand and give you 10 tribes I will give one tribe to a son so the David my servant may always have a lamp before me in Jerusalem the city where I chose to put my name however as for you this is directly to Jerry as for you I will take you. You know I said I will take you or I'll take you and you will rule over all your heart desires you will be king over Israel if you do whatever I command you and walk in my ways and do what is right in my eyes by keeping my can my statutes and commands as David my servant did I will be with you I will build you and this is a powerful powerful sons are here I will build you a dynasty as enduring as the one I build for David and will give Israel to you I will humble David's descendants because of this but not forever Solomon. This proves you know all the wheels of turmoil for him Look at look at verse 40 psalm and try to kill durable. But Jeroboam fled to Egypt to the king and stayed there until Solomon's death as for all the other events of. The did in the wisdom he displayed are they not written in the book of the Annals of Solomon Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel 40 years then he rested with his fathers and was buried in the City of David his father and his son succeeded him as King let's pray Father. Lord we believe that. What we're doing here today is spiritual enterprise and and the adversary doesn't want us to focus he has so many possible distractions right now the events of the world the events of sports or entertainment or our own personal lives are in the financial relational issues and. Facebook and Twitter and whatever else is going on out there and we we just are so caught up with all this stuff but I pray that for that just these moments together we'd be able to truly draw our minds captive and focus on your word in this narrative and and get from it something that that is food for our souls and motivation for our allies and Lord that as a result you'd be glorified and only you can do that and so I submit to that as well in the name of Jesus our Lord and Savior I pray he meant. You're listening to the real crazy rock and you rock tell them what does it mean for something to be extraordinary. Thing about the word for. To be extraordinary means to be extra or more than. You see most of the Christian life is made up of the order for day to day following in obedience to the direction of God through His Word and there's nothing wrong with that. But there are times when God shows up in an extraordinary way and we call those times seasons of revival. In fact revival has been defined as the extraordinary movement of God which produces extraordinary results. Now think of that in relation to your church does your church need one more program or could it use the extraordinary movement of go. This is Mark beard could revive say for one cry doc. I've been thinking about change. We all think about change every day. The wives of Tiger Woods and John Edwards and Mark Sanford wonder Will my husband ever change and in some cases it looks like the ladies have decided I don't think so and in other cases the jury's still out the frustrated citizens of America wonder Will politics in Washington ever change they say oh well they promise that it will they announce that they'll change it but will they ever change it nervous baby boomers wonder will the dismal all look on Social Security ever change and my answer to that is no it's not going to be there so don't count on it all right. And then every one of you if I were to say take out a piece of paper right now or get something in and write something down is there anything that you wish would change in your life circumstances. Everybody here has something no doubt about it family issue financial issue employment issue relational issue health issue you name it The list goes on you've got something that you would like to see changed so in that sense change for you you would value it but let me focus the microscope a bit more on you and ask you this Is there anything in your life that you're doing or a habit you have or something you are practicing or something you do that you believe that you need to change but you just haven't been able to or you're not willing to change it now that's a different question. What would you like to see changed about you most of us would say oh I have things I'd like to see changed about her or him or that. But what needs to be changed regarding you I've been reading as I said about change all week long I found this from the great theologian George Carlin he said I put a new member and I put a dollar in one of those change machines and nothing changed. You've heard de facto praise on the street in New York City buying a hot dog from a vendor on the street and and he says comes up to the vendor he says make me one with everything. But and. You'll get it later so that others on all the stuff you know puts it on has a 2 m d p I can see him a $20.00 bill the guy puts it in his drawer goes on to wait on the next guy Deepak looks at the vendor he says where's my change the guy looks at him and says true change comes from with then moves on to the nice girl. As we near the final report regarding Solomon and Solomon's legacy. We come to an episode that is if it's I would anything it's about change the key characters Jeroboam one of Solomon's officials who were told rebels against him. The prophet of Shiloh who got some new clothes and then decides to tear him up and of course the main character is God and if I was giving this paragraph a title today the title of the paragraph would be it's time to change because what occurs in Israel is one of the most dramatic changes in centuries in our case now looking back in millennia because the 12 tribes are divided up and now becomes the northern kingdom called is rolled the southern kingdom called Judah and God's united people and the experiment of of one nation under God under a theocracy followed by a king who has tried to rule with wisdom after 40 years with Saul and 40 years with David and 40 years with Solomon guess what the experiment failed and the nation is divided and it's all about change. Let me just tell you this sometimes God's wisdom says it's time to change but getting people to change is not very easy and that is an automatic I believe people can change and if I didn't believe people could change I would pack up my. Grandma a wife by the hand and walk out of here and say d o n e done dude I am here because if people can't change what's the point if you are what you are and you're you know environment and d.n.a. Is your destiny then then what's the point now no I I believe people can change and I believe people do change but I don't believe change comes simply because you say to someone it's time to change. It doesn't it's not automatic I read a little excerpt from a book titled how people change by Alan Wheelus is his name he said So long as one lives change is possible there you go but the longer such behavior is continued the more force and authority it acquires How then do we change he says inside his instrumentalists change often this an essential part of the process but does not directly achieve it so our text today becomes and became for me this week a case study in how God gets people to change and then by way of application and specifically how is it that God might be working in your life right now. To bring you to change that thing that needs changing. And his methods as as revealed in this historical narrative here are very compelling and and really undebatable I mean it's very the text is very forthcoming on you says what God does so I want for us to look at the methods and then for each of us to make an application to our own lives because in some cases I think God may be be involved in doing all 3 of these things at once method number one. Syria did steak knife out because this is a tough lean piece of meat it'll be tough to chew and even harder to swallow. Method number one is pain then. Pain. The only way. Is when I'm experiencing pain that I've gotta do something about the only way I'll change is because I don't want to experience that pain that threat of that kind of pain is so substantial that I'm going to make a change now you say how do you get to that 1st 30 God has a high judge the prophet take off his new cloak and tear it into 12 pieces now again this is obviously symbolic but symbolic of what it occurred to me that when you get something new and I mean this is the human thing when you get something new new clothing or whatever you're always very careful with it at 1st you try to protect that you you try to keep from getting a snag in or whatever your newer stuff is the stuff you protect more so I My best guess and it's only a guess of why we're told it's a new cloak and why that's significant is because with new stuff you're usually more protective of it and you don't just say I just got something new I think I'll tear it up no you say I got something new I think I'll take good care of it I'll protect it and then after a while you get a little ding here an advantage here and all the rest and then before long you don't care about it so much but you know him and what he says to him is this new cloak is to be torn into it and ripped in the 12 pieces now again great commentary debate about what the symbolism of tearing was and many of you know that often it was a grieving symbol when someone would die you'd tear a garment or your tear your cloth or you'd be wearing something that had a big rip or tear and it would be symbolic of the pain that you were feeling. God says. My people is. My chosen nation with 12 tribes. Is is not a good place and it's time for them to change and the only way that change is going to occur is I'm going to rip the kingdom apart question Can God do that yeah. And sometimes God chooses to use pain to get across a lesson that he can't get across in any other way he knows this is the only way to get the message across people understand pain so what's the lesson well in this case verse 33 tells you he says I will do this so now you get to know why I will do this because they have 1st saken me and worship are sure at the goddess of this I don't even show Marsh the God of the mobilize and Molech the God of the Ammonites and have not walked in my ways nor done what is right in my eyes nor caps that use my statutes and laws as Dave it's almost father did he said Solomon is coming and I gave him all the wisdom that anybody could ever want a member that's been looking at he had every opportunity he knew that he wasn't supposed to get involved with idolatry and false gods and yet he the leader. Of 12 tribes has gotten involved with false gods and goddesses and the reason he's done it is because he's married these women who have brought this into the into the home and all the rest and you know what the net result was among the people of God sexual perversion the asterisk. And that's all through the Old Testament. Pagan practices. And you can I cannot even say these words and it's really painful human sacrifice because to Marsh and Molech Molech in particular required the sacrifice of infants on an altar and the shedding of their blood and believe it or not that's what God's people have gotten into. And God says I told you not to do this. And apparently you have not gotten the message so guess what it's time for pain now I know and I've been around the block a few times I know some of you are wandering way off into well then any time that there's pain in our lives God is a nose or whatever Nope no listen here's the theological clarification mercifully God does not always use pain to get us to change do not caricature God as a masochist they deity who somehow takes great delight in beating all people. All pain and life is not from God to get you to change but listen some might be. The biblical record is fair and balanced. Sometimes God afflicts is people to get them to change. There's a worse. Way. To . Stay up to date and in the link with the real trees Iraq by following her on Twitter at my Tracy rock and also searching for her on Facebook at the real Tracy Rock we're Rascal Flatts is you know that suicide is the 2nd leading cause of death for youth ages $10.00 to $24.00 in our nation it is also a very simply and of pain and pain changing your behavior this week as I contemplated being raised in a home where my dad believed in the principle spare the rod and spoil the child so he did not spare the rod baby just so you know and I experienced many spankings growing up and I used to whine and complain and moan and groan about it but at this stage of my life I want to thank be on the public record as thanking God for spankings because they helped me to shape up they gave me some of this one ability to live my life as an adult in ways that as I look back upon it I could never be more grateful so that up in heaven thank you for the spankings God thank you I appreciate it all right but I especially appreciate it when my sisters were getting spread games. And here's why. Yeah and they did I had 2 older sisters you go to abusive older sisters had. They. There of their budget I have this little tiny bit of my bedroom is about the size of not to be you know poor man and my dad was a pastor you know what I was I So we went through this little space about as big as this was my bedroom growing up a little bit over here on the side little dresser over there you know some books over here because I obsessed on books I had books over here and I was it and then right next to my room on this I was my sister's room and they're in there and when Dad was spank them or you know in my case they come to my room spank me in their case you go into their room and you know I sit on the edge of the bed give them a little speech you know a speech. I'm only doing this because and this is going to hurt There you go all right you're very good for you. I love it so so anyway I could hear you know just one of my sisters said you know it never hurt me I always thought I stared crying immediately when Dad start talking I start crying and I would just scream and cry so he'd stop and never even hurt me you know to see her today by the way you think I'm up anyway. So. Dad would be in there spanking and I would hear my sister's crying. Sister as the case would be and and the effect that that had on me. Was I walk out of my room very carefully and dad was back you know in the house around and everything and I would say you know got anything I can do for you right now in . The trash I'm not good to try for is that I think I'll go into the treasure those are big things you're going up that was my big job you know it's like. The sobering effect of seeing somebody else get spanked or or being a round that was used to shape me up now listen to me pain is one don't misquote me I didn't say pain is the only I said Pain is a one of the ways God breaks through to us at times and for some of you pain is the only way you would ever consider changing I read a great article by a Christian therapist this week on why people change and he had a nice little alliterative list he said pain push and pull and then he talked about each one of those and I thought that was very insightful and particular because it correlated with this issue of pain that is clearly here in the text and Jeroboam is being shown the symbol as. Them of pain as the as the garment is being ripped up into 12 pieces he's being a demonstration of the tearing and the ripping that is about to come in the aftermath of what Solomon has done with these false gods and everything and the effe