- Welcome morning, Bridgewater. My name is Kevin and I get to serve as one of your pastors here. And as Kurt was praying for those who have been flooded and devastated by this hurricane and all the storms that came with it. I know in this area we can relate to that, but in New Jersey where we last served, where we last lived, I was four years ago at the beginning of September. There was a hurricane that came in, I forget what its name was, but that doesn't matter. And we walked outside the one morning after the storm and the water was up to the train trussle coming into town, the road overpass. And for the first moment, I knew that this was my hometown after living there for six years. And I was like, I need to do something for my neighbors. We literally had neighbors through our backyard that were launching boats out of their driveways to go rescue people. And I'm like, looking around, what do I do? I don't have a boat that I can launch. I've got a shop vac that I can lend to somebody that's not gonna do much. And I looked and saw I had a big old grill that I had gotten. I'm like, if that were me and my house was destroyed like that, the last thing I would think about would be eating. So I got a couple of burgers that we already had at home, cooked them up on the grill and moved the grill out of the sidewalk to start cooking for people. And then that grill, I was like, well, this isn't the best place because our house praise God was high and dry. So I'm like, can we get into this area of town called the Lost Valley? And that's not a great name for a place. But they experienced some of the worst flooding. So we ended up, we brought the grill down there and sat on the corner and just started flipping burgers for people and hearing their stories and listening as they came to us devastated. Having seen their house and all of their belongings, they had started chucking out onto the street for whenever the garbage guys were gonna come pick 'em up. But it was horrible. And all of these people were coming to us because we were there. And we were people who could just be a pillar and be in one place and give them some kind of guidance or at least somebody to listen to, somebody we can look to and say, hey, my life is in shambles. How do I help? Or what's my next step? Where do I go from here? And as I started going through this, I'm like, I have no idea. So I called up buddies of mine who ran a crisis response team. I said, guys, I don't know what I'm doing. Can you help me? Because when you're trying to go somewhere that you've never been, you need directions of some sort. I knew I was in over my head and I called out and reached out for help. These people were coming to us, trying to figure out what's my next step? Who do I go to? How do I get help? And everybody's telling them 100 different things. If you want to go somewhere you've never been before, get directions from somebody, preferably from somebody who's been there before. Because direction is going to determine your destination. We talked about that a few weeks ago in this series. But the people that you listen to determine your direction. Have you ever been in a place where somebody or everybody is giving you direction? Yeah, any parents out there? As soon as you become a parent, it's like suddenly everybody in the world has permission to information dump on you, right? Like, oh, you're gonna traumatize your kid by dressing them in that or feeding them that or doing this or letting them sleep there. And if we listen to those voices, we would be completely paralyzed, right? So we need to select and figure out who we are going to listen to. And we need to listen to the right voices to help us end up in the right direction. We go to people preferably who have been there before us. And we say, you are where I want to be. What can I learn from you? And as we've been going through this series called asking for directions, we found that one of the most critical things is not just asking for directions, not just getting the directions, but following them. Because if we're gonna just ask for directions, they don't do us any good. You can have the right path, the right map, the right everything, and yet we're still gonna end up lost. We all know that if we wanna lose weight, we have to do what? Eat less and exercise more. Some of you guys did that yesterday and you're crazy. 25K on the Miller Mountain, man, you guys are awesome. And we know that if we wanna be financially free, we gotta spend less than we earn. But we know the right direction, we just don't follow it. And as my family has grown, Sarah and I, because Kurt preached on the idea that foresight is better than hindsight last week, Sarah and I took that into consideration 14 years ago when we got married. Little bit before that, actually, because when I married Sarah, I became the cool uncle. She was already the cool aunt. She had five nieces and nephews who are now amazing adults, which is hard to believe. But somehow, some reason, we got the joy of getting all five of those nieces and nephews on a regular occasion, 'cause we were the cool aunt and cool uncle, right? So, but even as a cool aunt and cool uncle, we need rules because you can't just have a heyday every day. So our nieces and nephews will be able to tell you at least Ozzell and family rule number one, which we developed as we were watching them. It's very in-depth. You might wanna take notes on this. Rule number one, don't die, okay? And that's where we started out because we wanted to figure out how to help these kids who would someday be grown adults. We wanted them to live healthy, fruitful lives. So if you wanna get there, just don't die. That's the basics, rule number one. And as we developed in our parenting and running youth groups and things like that, and eventually had kids of our own, we've added to those rules to help people grow into godly human beings who are doing great things. But while we make our own rules, Solomon kind of wrote the book on wisdom, like literally. And if you were here last week, you were with us and Kurt was preaching from the book of Proverbs, which Solomon wrote with the explicit instruction. He says, "These are the Proverbs of Solomon, "David's son, the king of Israel. "Their purpose is to teach people wisdom and discipline "to help them understand the insights of the wise. "And many of these are written specifically to his children "because as parents, we all want what's best "for our children, right? "I don't know any parent who says, "Yeah, I want what's absolutely works for my kid. "I want them to end up destitute and relationship lists "with a terrible job. "Any parents out there like that? "I hope not. "If you are, talk to Pastor Kurt, he will help you. "We all want what's best for our kids. "And that's why Solomon wrote down this book of Proverbs "to help guide his children in the best possible path. "One of those children is named Raya Bowen, "and we're gonna see his story today. "Now, Solomon, as it said in the opening to Proverbs, "is the son of David, who is known as Israel's greatest king. "David was Israel's second king. "And between David and Solomon, "Israel became an absolute behemoth of a superpower. "David and Solomon were able to take this group, "this nation called Israel, "and take them out of slavery in Egypt, "out of wandering the desert for 40 years "to a place where Israel had leadership "and they had great power in the world around them. "And we all know probably somebody named David, "we probably have a few David's in the room right now. "Anybody know Solomon? "I know of Solomon. "Anybody know of Raya Bowen, though? "No, it's probably because David and Solomon "had an incredible legacy that they left behind. "Raya Bowen's legacy was different, "because Raya Bowen refused to listen to wise counsel. "So instead of prosperity, wisdom, and greatest king ever, "Raya Bowen's legacy is a divided kingdom. "And we're gonna see how he got there this morning. "We're gonna be in first Kings chapter 12, "where we're gonna see what happens "to the son of the wisest man to ever live. "Raya Bowen went to Shechem, "where all Israel had gathered to make him king. "When Jeroboam, son of Nebat, heard of this, "he returned from Egypt for he had fled to Egypt "to escape from King Solomon. "So we have this new character coming to the picture, "just to confuse everybody with Jeroboam and Raya Bowen, "which poem are we talking about? "But Jeroboam was one of Solomon's great officials, "and he earned his place of power by being a great worker. "The Bible tells us that work is good. "It's good to work, and Jeroboam shows us that. "And Jeroboam had received this prophecy "from a prophet named Ahijah, "which you can see in Solomon, Solomon. "First Kings chapter 11, you can read about that, "where he would be a king of Israel. "He would have 10 tribes of Israel "that would follow after him. "And when you hear a king, "when a king hears that somebody is gonna be king "after him, that's not his son. "Usually that doesn't go well. "So that's why Jeroboam is gonna be fleeing from Solomon. "He runs away to Egypt to hide from Solomon "who he knows wants his head. "So once Jeroboam hears that Solomon is dead, "he says, all right, maybe it's a safe time for me "to come back to Jerusalem. "So he does that. "And the leaders of Israel summoned him, "and Jeroboam and the whole assembly of Israel "went to speak with Raya Bowen. "So Raya Bowen comes before them, "getting ready to be crowned king. "And the people all come to him saying, "Your father was a hard master. "Lighten the harsh labor demands and heavy taxes "that your father imposed on us. "Then we will be your loyal subjects." This sounds reasonable, right? These people are gathering, trying to figure out what it's gonna be like under King Raya Bowen. They already knew what it was like under King Solomon, and because he had this massive kingdom, they had massive building project after building project, and the work was never done. Yes, any of you live in a constant construction zone. That was my life growing up. We always just had one project after the next going on, and that's how it felt for Israel. They were growing and expanding their country and developing the superpower, but somebody's gotta do the work, and somebody's gotta pay for it. And unfortunately, Solomon, even though First Kings 10 tells us that silver had become of no value in the kingdom of Israel, because they were so wealthy that gold was everywhere. Silver was just laying around in the garbage. Can you imagine that? I could take a little bit of garbage silver right now. How about you guys? And yet, Solomon was taxing these people. He said, "We're gonna improve this country, "but I'm not paying for it. "You guys are gonna pay for it, "and you're gonna do the work." That doesn't quite sound fair, does it? That's not the kind of leader I want to live under. So, Raya Bowman takes this information. He says, "Give me a few days. "Give me three days to think this over. "Then come back for my answer." So the people went away. Raya Bowman does a great job here, because sometimes the best thing that you can do when somebody asks you a question, say, "Hold on. "Give me a few days to pray over that, "to think over it, and to consult people about this." Because I have this problem sometimes. I'll ask somebody a question, but I'll hedge it with. I don't want your answer right now, because I don't want your right now answer. I want the right answer. I might come to somebody and ask them to do something, or ask them if they'd be willing to serve in a ministry, or to do this, or to do that. I don't want your answer right now, because I don't want you to give me the answer that you think I want. I want the answer that's actually right. I want the right answer, not the right now answer. So take your time to consider what's best, to go to people whose wisdom you respect, to go to somebody who is in a place where you want to be. And that's what King Raya Bowman starts out with. Then King Raya Bowman discussed this matter with the older men who had counseled his father Solomon. What is your advice he asked? How should I answer these people? Man, this guy must have been raised by the smartest guy in the world. Go to somebody who has been there before, and ask them what their opinion is. And that's where he starts out. So the advisors, the older counselors replied, if you are willing to be a servant to these people today, and give them a favorable answer, they will always be your loyal subject. What they're telling him is, just be their servant right now. It's as if they knew ahead of time, what Jesus would do as he came, where it says even the son of man came not to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. It's as if there's wisdom in listening to other people. And that's exactly what Raya Bowman should have done. He should have listened to these men and say, "Hey, you were with my dad. "You saw him at his best, "and you saw him spiral down towards his worst." Because we see what happened to Solomon in chapter 11, you guys can read that for yourselves, but just read the headlines with me right now. In chapter 11, it says Solomon's many wives, then Solomon's adversaries, then Jeroboam rebels against Solomon. This is the downer of spiral of the wisest man to have ever lived. And where does it start? It starts in chapter 11 verse one, where it says, "Now King Solomon loved many foreign women. "Besides Pharaoh's daughter, he married women from Moab, "ammon, Edom, Sidon, and from among the Hittites. "It tells us that Solomon had 700 wives of royal birth "and 300 concubines. "And in fact, in verse three of chapter 11, "they did turn his heart away from the Lord." There's an old saying, "Show me your friends "and I'll show you your future. "Whoever has your ear is going to help guide your direction. "So we need to be real careful who has our ear, "who we're gonna listen to. "Solomon's ear was taken by his 700 wives "and 300 concubines. "That's too many people, first of all. "Then it's the wrong kind of people "because they weren't people who wear wear "Solomon wanted to be. "They were people who were worshiping false gods "when Solomon knew the truth of the one true God, "the true king of Israel. "And Reoboam goes even farther than his dad did. "He rejects the counsel of the older rulers. "Reoboam rejected the advice of the older men "and instead asked the opinion of the young men "who had grown up with him and who are now his advisors. "What is your advice?" he asked them. "How should I answer these people "who want me to lighten the burdens imposed by my father?" The young men replied, "This is what you should tell "those complainers who want a lighter burden. "My little finger is thicker than my father's waist." Reoboam doesn't want the right answer. He wants the right now answer. He wants the answer that he wants. He wants to surround himself with yes men, who say, "Yeah, Reoboam, that's a great idea. "Go be the powerful ruler, the dictator over everybody, "and make them work for you and respect you. "Nobody's gonna respect this guy." And I appreciate Reoboam's friends in saying, you know, don't listen to these winers because Oslo's family rule number two is no whining. All right? But he fails to listen to Oslo's family rule number three, which is don't be dumb. Don't be dumb, this is dumb. He's gonna listen to the people who have never been where he wants to be to try to get where he's never been before. If you wanna get where you've never been, you've gotta do something you've never done. And that's gonna be listening to people who are already there. And taking the advice in wise counsel from those around you. And so they tell him to say, "Yes, "my father laid heavy burdens on you, "but I'm going to make them even heavier. "My father beat you with whips, "but I will beat you with scorpions." Reoboam knew the wise counsel that he needed. He knew that he needed counsel, and that was wise, that was good. He then asked for counsel from people who had been there before, but he rejects it. Saying, "No, I don't wanna go that path." And then he asked for counsel from people who had never been where he wanted to be. And he listens to the people who had never been where he wanted to be. Oslo's family rule number four is play to win always. And in the church, if you're a follower of Jesus, this is the win right here. This is the win, more and better disciples. And that should be our constant focus, and our constant attention is how do we make more people know about Jesus, and how do we make those people who know him already even better in their faith? How do we challenge each other, spur each other on toward loving good deeds? That's why we've got Discovery class going on right now. And next steps, starting point going on in the 930 service right now, because we want you to experience the fullness of life that is available only through Jesus Christ. That's the win. Play to win always, and focus on what matters most. Focus on Jesus, because God has given us his entire, this entire history, story after story of people who have followed God's advice, or have spurned God's advice and said, "You know what, I'm smarter, I'm faster, "I'm stronger than these people. "I'm never going to fall to their mistakes. "It's time after time we see that we're wrong, "because it's wise to take directions "from someone who has already been where you want to go. "If you want to embrace financial freedom, "you've got to go to somebody like Financial Peace University "and say, help me. "If you want to raise kids who love God and love you, "go to somebody who is in there already." And that's what I love about bringing a part of Bridgewater is, as I looked around the table during my interview process, I looked at the guys who are interviewing me, I'm like, hey, you have 20-something-year-olds who don't hate you and don't hate Jesus. How did you do it? Because as a pastor, one of my greatest fears is that my kids will grow to resent the church, because it takes Daddy away from them, or because they feel like Daddy loves the church more than he loves them. So I want to go to these men, who are where I want to be, and say, teach me, what can I learn from you? And the big question for you is who are you going to listen to? You need honest people in your life. I had at least two people this morning come up to me and say, hey, you got some fuzz in your beard. I'm like, that's just the microphone. But I need those people in my life who are the crumb catchers, 'cause I can't see what's in this glorious beard here. Steve, you can relate. We need those crumb catchers. Like, hey, you got something right there. We need people who are going to be honest with us, like, hey, you look like a fool right now. And that might hurt in the moment. But in the long run, it's going to get us where we need to be. We need godly people in our lives who are going to help us along this path, because it's hard. If you want to go fast, go alone, right? And if you want to go far, go with somebody else. You've got to run with somebody else. We need godly people to guide us along and help us along. And you need wise and experienced people, people who have already been where you want to be, who will help you avoid the pitfalls, help you know, hey, we got a hill coming up. You're going to want to get ready for that. But Raya Boehm doesn't follow that path. So three days later, Jeroboam and all the people returned to hear Raya Boehm's decision just as the king had ordered. But Raya Boehm spoke harshly to the people for he rejected the advice of the older counselors. And he followed the counsel of the younger advisors. He told the people, my father laid heavy burdens on you, but I'm going to make them even heavier. My father beat you with whips, but I will beat you with scorpions. I'm going to make my father look like nothing compared to me. The wisest man who ever lived, he's got nothing on me. So the king paid no attention to the people and this turn of events was the will of the Lord. For fulfilled the Lord's message to Jeroboam, someone of Nebat, through the prophet Ahijah from Shiloh. When all Israel realized that the king had never fused to listen to them, they responded, down with the dynasty of David, we have no interest in the son of Jesse. Back to your home, O Israel, look out for your own house, O David. And this breaks my heart because how many generations of Israel have stood up after this to say, we have no interest in the son of Jesse. Because the son of Jesse was David. The son of David would be Jesus. And how many generations of Israel said, I've got no interest in Jesus because of what Raya Boam did. Because Raya Boam refused to listen to the wise counsel of others. How many of us have been hurt by the church? Because we refuse to see the pitfalls that have come before so many pastors before us. Or we've hurt people more than we've helped them. When we've taken people farther away from God, then we've drawn them towards Him. How many people are saying, because of you, I've got no interest in the son of Jesse. (clears throat) I'm so glad that I get to be a part of a church where people are coming to find Jesus. People are overcoming the hurt and bad experience that they've had with people under the name of Jesus. Because we show true love. Even when it hurts in the moment. But if we wanna be wise, we wanna follow the right path. We need to listen to the right people. And jumping back in, it says after this, the people of Israel went home. But Raya Boam continued to rule over the Israelites who lived in the towns of Judah. So this is where the divided kingdom begins. Raya Boam is the king over two tribes. And King Raya Boam and Adonairam sent Adonairam who is in charge of forced labor to restore order. If you're running a kingdom and you've got somebody in charge of forced labor, you're probably doing things wrong. But the people of Israel stoned this man to death. When this news reached King Raya Boam, he quickly jumped into his chariot and skidattled out of there. He fled to Jerusalem. And to this day, the Northern tribes of Israel have refused to be ruled by a descendant of David. When the people of Israel learned of Jeroboam's return from Egypt, they called an assembly and made him king over all Israel. So only the tribe of Judah and Benjamin remained loyal to the family of David. Who are you listening to? We've all got voices going on all around us. There is no shortage of self-help books and podcasts and resources that will take you any direction. They'll tell you what you want to hear, but are they gonna tell you what you need to hear? Are you willing to take the next step of listening to somebody who is where you want to be? I guarantee you, if you start taking your coups from God's wisdom and those who have demonstrated wisdom, your life will be in a better position. Now practically, what does that look like? Maybe it means taking somebody out to lunch saying, hey, you know what, Harry? I need to know how to lead people to Christ better. Can you help me with that? Maybe it means coming to somebody and saying, you know what, I need help with my finances. Can I take you out to lunch and we'll talk over this? It'll be the best $20 you've ever spent. If you humble yourself to say, hey, I need help, it's gonna pay out, it's gonna be worth it. But Ozzlin's family rule number five, and I apologize if I offend anybody with this, is never trust a vegan. I know in this area we don't have to worry about that so much, some of you experienced the state holiday yesterday of opening day of archery season. But never trust a vegan, what I mean by that, is don't trust somebody's advice if they're in a place you don't wanna be. There's great reasons to be vegan, I'm sure of it. But man, God made meat to be delicious. And Ozzlin's family rule number six, you guys get this as a bonus, none of the other services got it. Ozzlin's family rule number six is ask for and receive help. Be willing to admit, I don't have it all together. I need help, give me advice, walk with me through this, find those godly people, those wise people, those experienced people, and say, will you be a crumb catcher for me? Will you try to take that fuzz out of my beard? 'Cause I need this. Let's pray together. Lord God, we thank You that You are a God who does not want us to be alone. You have given us guidance and wisdom through Your Word and through other people. Help us not to be too proud to ask for help, to listen to those who have gone before us. And Father, give us the wisdom to know who to listen to. God, we want to chase after You in everything. And as we prepare to take communion right now, Lord, I pray that You will soften our hearts to hear and understand where we have gone astray and where we need You. God, be with us this morning. We pray these things in the awesome and holy name of Jesus Christ. Amen. (gentle music)
