Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
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WHAT? What are we talking about today?
QUESTION | What makes your life noisy?
Do you ever feel like life is just a little too noisy?
Like you're sometimes so distracted you can barely think?
What makes your life seem noisy sometimes?
INSTRUCTIONS: Give a few students a chance to respond.
We're constantly bombarded by information, notifications, reminders, responsibilities — it's a lot to deal with on a normal day, but it's even worse when we're trying to make a big decision or get some guidance.
Between the advice of our friends or family, the stuff we find on the internet, and whatever our gut is telling us to do, it's not easy to know whose advice to listen to.
SO WHAT?
Why does it matter to God and to us?
STORY | Talk about a time you listened to the wrong person for advice.
INSTRUCTIONS: Tell a story from your own life (or ask a volunteer or student to tell a story) about a time when you listened to the wrong person for advice.
This could be either a silly or serious story.
If possible, try choosing a story where you were offered good advice, but took bad advice instead.
Workout Pic
Back in 10th grade, I had a buddy named Todd who constantly worked out and took all kinds of supplements to get “jacked.”
He was taking this stuff called “ripped fuel,” which was labeled for 18 years & older… problem is, he was only 16.
He kept telling me how great this stuff was and how I needed to get it, so I ended up buying some from the supplement store behind my parents’ backs.. (Mom didn’t want me getting it!)
This stuff worked pretty well… and along with clean eating, I lost a lot of weight and got in really good shape.
But there was a price… not only was I too young to be taking this stuff… I also didn’t pay attention to the warnings that said to stop taking it after 90 days.
I remember one night I couldn’t go to sleep and my heart starting racing uncontrollably.
I called my friend Jennifer and told her I swore I was having a heart attack.
Thankfully, I didn’t die that night and was ok the next morning, but I stopped taking that stuff immediately.
And I could give you a dozen more stories of really stupid stuff I did because my friends talked me into it.
With so many voices to choose from, it's hard to know who to listen to.
We all have moments when we find ourselves asking questions like,
"What do I do now?
Who do I trust?
Which voice is the right voice to follow?
OBJECT LESSON | The Crown
For the last couple of weeks, we've been talking famous kings in Scripture.
So far, we've talked about . . .
King David and the mistakes he made when he was in charge.
Absalom, whose confidence that he knew best led him toward destruction.
Today I want to introduce you to a third person.
Unlike Absalom, this guy really did become king after David.
And when he did, he taught us all a few really important things about who we should be listening to.
INSTRUCTIONS: Building on your object lesson, reveal the third crown in your collection.
Pick it up whenever you talk about royalty or Solomon.
RECAP: A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE KINGS
KINGS PIC
The kings we’re talking about lived around 3,000 years ago, when they ruled the nation of Israel.
For a long time, Israel didn't have an official human ruler because it was led by God.
But eventually, the Israelites decided they knew better than God did and demanded a king.
They wanted a human leader to rule them, just like all the other nations had.
So God gave the Israelites what they asked for.
First there was King Saul, whose crown passed to David when Saul disobeyed God.
Then God chose David to wear the crown, wield the power, and care for God's people.
One of David's sons, Absalom, tried to take the throne from David against God's will and failed.
But David couldn't be king forever.
Eventually, David passed the crown on to his son, Solomon.
SCRIPTURE | I Kings 2:10-12
INSTRUCTIONS: Read I Kings 2:10-12.
The transition of the crown from David to Solomon happened naturally and uneventfully.
David died.
When he did, Solomon took the throne.
After hearing the stories of David and Absalom, you might be wondering what horrible thing Solomon did next.
Let's take a look:
SCRIPTURE | I Kings 3:3-14
So far so good in Solomon's story!
Solomon began his reign by following God closely.
He placed the good of God’s people above his personal peace, prosperity, or desire to be a powerful or popular king.
As far as God was concerned, Solomon's priorities were in the right place.
One night, Solomon had a dream where God asked him, "What do you want?"
So Solomon asked for unlimited ice cream.
Just kidding.
He asked for wisdom.
We don't know exactly why this was Solomon's request, but maybe it's because he really wanted to lead his kingdom well.
Maybe he didn't want to go down the same path David and Absalom had by using his power to hurt others or become proud.
God gave Solomon wisdom, but God didn't stop there.
Scripture says Solomon received the ability to pass fair judgment, which is really important when you're leading people.
You need to be fair when you're ruling a kingdom.
Solomon could have listened to anyone.
He could have hired a million people to help him make decisions, or hired no one at all and just trusted his gut.
But instead, Solomon asked for God's wisdom — a wisdom more trustworthy than anything a person could give him.
SCRIPTURE | James 1:5
But maybe you're still wondering what exactly "wisdom" is.
Is it the same thing as knowledge?
Is it the ability to intuitively know what to do anytime there's a tough decision?
Is it a weird superpower?
Does having it mean you have to start dressing like an elderly professor?
You can dress however you want, but no, that last part is not a requirement for getting or having wisdom.
Think of it this way: if knowledge is a collection of all of the information in the world, wisdom is what you have when you actually use that knowledge.
Wisdom is knowledge plus action.
Solomon may have received wisdom in a pretty spectacular way, but here's the good news for you and me:
We don't have to wait until we become king or have a mysterious dream in order to have a moment like this with God.
Here's what the book of James says.
James 1:5 (NCV)
But if any of you needs wisdom, you should ask God for it.
He is generous to everyone and will give you wisdom without criticizing you.
Wait, all we need to do is ask?
We don't need to do anything special?
Make big promises?
Make a deal with God?
We can just ask?
Yeah.
It really is that simple.
You don't have to be wearing a crown or ruling a kingdom to get access to God's wisdom.
No matter what our problem is, and no matter who we are,
WHEN WE’RE NOT SURE WHO TO LISTEN TO, WE CAN ASK GOD WISDOM.
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