جارٍ تحميل الأرشيف الحي.
Part 7 of 10
Kingslayers Series
واصِل الاستكشاف
مرتبطة بالمقطع الكتابي أو بموضوعات مشتركة.
لم تُترجم هذه الصفحة بالكامل بعد. يظهر بعض النص أدناه أو كله بلغة English، وهي لغته الأصلية.
Solomon was the son of King David, the greatest king Israel ever had—the only man the Bible calls "a man after God's Own Heart." Despite being born from David's sinful relationship with Bathsheba, God redeemed that wreckage and elevated Solomon to kingship.
Solomon's life began with extraordinary blessings. He was filled with the Holy Spirit and became the wisest man who ever lived. His wealth was staggering—a conservative estimate places his net worth at around $2 trillion, roughly 4 times Elon Musk's wealth. Beyond material blessing, he experienced direct encounters with the living God, built the temple, and led a national revival. He didn't just read scripture—he wrote it, inspired by the Holy Spirit, authoring Proverbs, Song of Solomon, and Ecclesiastes.
Yet Solomon's life ended in spiritual disaster. He ended up worshiping demonic false gods. God removed His blessing, and Solomon's children and grandchildren followed the same false gods. The nation of Israel disintegrated and split in two.
How did he get from there to there in one generation?
Everything started with one tiny decision—so small that it didn't feel like a big deal at the time.
In 1 Kings 3:1, Solomon made an alliance with Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and married his daughter. This violated Deuteronomy 17, where God commanded that the people of Israel should not marry foreign spouses—not as a prohibition against interracial marriage, but against interfaith marriage, since other nations worshiped other gods.
Solomon justified it as purely political: "This is just a political alliance to protect Israel." It felt harmless, just one exception.
Wolves travel in packs. One bad relationship never stays that way.
This is what happened to Solomon: "His wives turned away his heart" (1 Kings 11:4). He accumulated 700 wives and 300 concubines. That one compromise opened the door to many more.
The people you're around change the thoughts you have. Every day, surrounded by people who didn't believe in God, Solomon heard: "Why does it matter that we worship these other gods? Can't we all just be spiritual people together? Can't we coexist?"
These relationships influenced his perspective and turned away his heart—and in Hebrew, "heart" means mind, will, and emotions together.
1 Kings 11:5 describes how Solomon "went after Astarte the goddess of the Sidonians and after Milcom the Abomination of the Ammonites...and Molech the Abomination of the Ammonites."
Molech was a demonic false god worshiped through child sacrifice. People would heat metal idols until they glowed red-hot, then burn alive their newborn infants inside the belly of these statues.
The purpose of emotion is to put you in motion. Bad values produce bad feelings, and bad feelings lead to bad doing. 1 Kings 11:6 says, "Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the Lord."
Choices become chains. The first time Solomon compromised, he made an exception. Then it became his new normal. He kept making the same bad decision over and over until it was a habit.
1 Kings 11:8 says he did these things "for all his foreign wives." What started as an exception became a pattern.
When you're born, you look like your parents. When you die, you look like your habits. Habits always determine outcomes.
The judgment of God fell on Solomon. His entire family was ruined. Two generations down, his descendants followed the same false gods. He likely struggled with sex addiction, ending his life as a lonely, depressed man who lost his entire kingdom through his sons.
All of this catastrophe started with one tiny decision that didn't feel like a big deal.
Solomon himself reflected on what happened to him later in life. In Proverbs 13:20, he wrote:
"Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm."
This is a gravity principle—nobody defeats it. Nobody. It's undefeated.
You will always end up walking like who you walk with. This applies to every area of life:
Every time you choose your friends, you're choosing your future. The younger you are, the faster you need to internalize this principle.
To parents with younger children: As long as you have the position and authority in your children's lives, you choose your kids' friends. Your children are still in the season where they cannot make this decision wisely for themselves.
Kids are fools—not as an insult, but as biblical fact (Proverbs 22:15 says, "Folly is bound up in the heart of a child"). You have a God-given authority to guide them toward friendships that will shape them toward godliness.
If you have children in the age range to attend Lakepointe Students or Kids, prioritize getting them there consistently. Every week, approximately 2,000 children gather in the same place—young people who want to honor God, chase after Jesus, and live for righteousness. You're giving your child a "target-rich environment" to build friendships that will determine their future.
You need to learn to view people not through the categories of "nice" and "mean," but through the biblical lens of character. There are three types of people:
1. Wise People – They fear the Lord and shun evil (Proverbs 14:16).
2. Foolish People – They are hotheaded and yet feel secure; they devise evil (Proverbs 14:16-17).
3. Evil People – They devise evil schemes and are hated (Proverbs 14:17).
While you're reading these categories, ask God: "Which category are the people closest to me in?"
Some of you have a default mode of total trust. You meet someone and immediately give them full access to your life and take their advice on everything. This is dangerous naïveté. You cannot treat everybody the same because not everybody is the same.
You don't treat a snake, a polar bear, and a puppy the same way—you treat people according to their character.
Here's something crucial: Evil people will sometimes be really nice to you. Solomon's wives were very nice to him. Every decision he made, they cheered: "You're the best, Solomon! You do you! Slay!" They encouraged him toward godlessness and the destruction of his life and family.
Friends who will cheer you on all the way to hell are not your friends.
There are also rough, good people—people who might speak hard truth when you need it. When the prophet Nathan rebuked King David publicly, it probably felt mean. But Nathan saved David from a path that would have destroyed his life, his children, his legacy, and his family. That's a good man.
You need to ask God to show you which category the people closest to you—those influencing you most—fall into. There are three distinct types.
Wise people are led by the Spirit. In the Bible, wise people are represented by shepherds. Knowledge comes from school, but wisdom comes from the Spirit. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. A wise person is somebody who loves Jesus and obeys Jesus in all their decisions.
When you have wise friends, they don't just cheer on every decision you make. Instead, with every choice you make, they help you ask: "What's the word say? What's the word say?" They point you toward God's truth.
Foolish people are led by the flesh—by their feelings and their desires. In the Bible, foolish people are represented by sheep. All of us are foolish sometimes. We all do dumb things at times.
Foolish people often have good hearts but undisciplined heads. They're figuring it out as they go. They mean well, but they lack spiritual maturity and biblical foundation. The important thing to understand is that foolish people are not inherently dangerous—they're just misdirected.
Evil people are led by the demonic. In the Bible, evil people are represented by wolves. Here's how you recognize an evil person: they hate and oppose the things of God. These are people in your life who call truth hate, because truth sounds like hate to people who hate truth.
Evil people are intentionally dangerous. They use their energy to create injury. Often—though not always—these are people with unhealed or unforgiven trauma in their past. The Bible calls Satan "Beelzebub," which means "Lord of the Flies." He accesses your life through unhealed wounds and turns them into infestations like gangrene. Then he gains control of your life through that unhealed or unforgiven wound.
Sometimes evil people will pretend to be Christians. The Bible calls them "wolves in sheep's clothing." Just because somebody says they're a believer doesn't mean you should believe them. Don't watch what they say or how they make you feel—watch what they do. Do they act like disciples of Jesus?
An evil person will corrupt a wise person faster than a wise person will consecrate an evil person. This is a sobering reality.
Consider King Solomon. Before his heart turned away from God, he was wise. But Solomon's wives worshiped demonic false gods and influenced him toward idolatry and away from God. They were nice to him. Every decision he made, they cheered: "You're the best, Solomon! You do you! Slay!" They encouraged him toward godlessness and the destruction of his life and family.
Friends who will cheer you on all the way to hell are not your friends.
Contrast this with King David, who had Nathan the prophet. When Nathan rebuked David publicly for his sin, it probably felt mean. But Nathan saved David from a path that would have destroyed his life, his children, his legacy, and his family. That's a good man.
Some of you have a default mode of total trust. You meet someone and immediately give them full access to your life. This is dangerous naïveté. You cannot treat everybody the same because not everybody is the same. You don't treat a snake, a polar bear, and a puppy the same way—you treat people according to their character.
On the other hand, some of you are just totally suspicious of everyone, everywhere, all the time. Your default mode is that everyone is guilty until they prove themselves innocent. Neither extreme is healthy.
What you need is discernment. Ask God to show you which people are wise, foolish, and evil, and respond accordingly.
The Bible is clear: "Do not be yoked together with unbelievers." What do righteousness and wickedness have in common? If one person's whole life is trying to go one direction and another's is trying to go a different direction, how can you be connected? How is that supposed to work?
The Bible also says: "Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but a companion of fools will suffer harm." This is an undefeated principle.
Your closest relationships should be with other committed Christians in the church. Notice the word "committed." Not "I love Jesus but I'm not into the church thing." Not "He's not super committed but he's got potential." Not "She drinks and cusses and sleeps around, but she wears a cross necklace." Not "I believe some of the Bible but I think some of it is offensive and outdated."
Committed Christians in the church.
Apply this to your dating life right now. If you're dating somebody and thinking, "Well, he's not quite there yet, but I'm going to get him there," here's what the Bible says is more likely to happen: you're not going to pull them up into good things. They're going to pull you down into dark things.
I know being single is hard. I really do empathize with that. But I've seen this hundreds and thousands of times, and let me tell you what's even harder than being single: wishing you were. It's lonely being single, yes. But do you know what's worse? Being lonely and married. That's worse.
Some of you are hearing this and thinking, "Yeah, but he's so hot." Here's the truth: so is hell. You just have to figure out which one you're going to.
Some of you are in a specific situation right now. God has given you a new life in Christ. He's given you a new calling, a new future, a new destiny, a new eternity in front of you. But something is holding you back. You're trying to live a new life with an old community.
Listen to me: that new wine does not fit into those old wineskins. You cannot live the right life with the wrong friends. You can't do it. So right now, a choice needs to happen in your life.
Let me talk to the men for a moment. Solomon was a man, and I'm a man.
When you read David's life—a man after God's own heart—you constantly read about godly men who were close to him. He had Joab, a warrior who fought alongside him. He had Nathan, a bold, courageous prophet who spoke truth into his life. He had Jonathan, a friend who stuck closer than a brother. They were a band of brothers, following Jesus together.
But when you read Solomon's life, you never hear mention of any male friends. Not once.
Men, you cannot fight the devil in the dark because the dark is his domain. If you have to fight a polar bear, don't do it on the snow. If you have to fight a shark, don't do it in the water. If you have to fight the devil, don't do it in the dark. Don't do it in relational secrecy where nobody else knows you.
It's not enough to have buddies. You've got golfing buddies, fishing buddies, Cowboys game buddies, work buddies. But here's the difference: are your relationships rooted in Christ or rooted in a hobby? When the hobby's over, the relationship's over.
You need a band of brothers who are going to come alongside you and fight with you. You can drag any sin, any struggle, any pain out into the light of honesty with those men. Jesus is the Lord of the light. Drag it out there and let Him reign victorious over everything in your life. That's what happens when you have men around you who love Jesus and are trying to do something together.
This will change not just your life but your legacy and your lineage.
One Lakepointe family discovered this transformation. Their daughter Reese accepted Christ at camp and came home a different person—so happy and fulfilled. She started coming to church and always invited her parents.
"I remember looking at him and saying, 'We're the worst parents on Earth because our kid just wants us to go to church.' But she kept on, and we finally came just one time. From the very first Sunday we walked through the doors, we were just so welcomed. We got involved and plugged into a life group."
When people discuss the Bible together in a life group, different people know different things. That rubbed off on them. Now they have likeminded people as their circle of friends—friends they've committed to who help hold them accountable.
"We didn't know what we were missing until we got it. When baptism came up, I made the decision, and because of Reese, I would be honored if she would baptize me. Our entire life group came to watch. It changed my life."
They say about their life group: "We're all doing life together." There are so many wonderful groups and resources for everything. As they put it: "Lakepointe is the biggest little church you've ever been to. Just get in the door, come visit a life group. This thing is real, and I'm all in and ready to roll."
Every person here wants to become something new. Maybe you want a new marriage or a new family. Maybe you want new peace and joy, new finances, or just a new life.
The Bible is showing you today that you can make one tiny decision that can set off a redemptive chain reaction leading to all those outcomes. That small decision is to enter into a new relationship with committed Christians—and it can set off a chain reaction that changes everything.
I'm not asking you; I'm challenging you to test drive a life group for just the next six weeks. Not till Jesus returns—just six weeks. A band of brothers.
You might be thinking: "I don't know enough about the Bible." Listen, you're not going to get a quiz on the way in. Everybody's learning together. The Bible says it's not the people who know the most about the Bible who are the most mature—it's the people who apply the most. You may actually step in and be a pacesetter for your group.
You might be thinking: "Won't it be weird?" Here's how a life group works: ESPN. That's Encouragement, Scripture, Prayer, Next Steps. That's all that happens. It's really simple and really encouraging.
You might be thinking: "I don't have time." But you make time for 11 hours of Netflix per week and never miss a Cowboys game. Why would you make time for things that make your life a little worse but not for something that might change your lineage and legacy? We make time for the things that matter.
You might be thinking: "I tried one once and it was awkward." You don't let that stop you in other areas of your life. You've had bad restaurant experiences, but you didn't give up eating. You'll do awkward for things that matter. And this matters, because "whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but a companion of fools will suffer harm."
The Lord is calling you to something that's going to set off a chain reaction today.
As soon as this service ends, before you leave your seat, text the word GROUP to 24141. You'll get a form with literally only three blanks. It'll take you less than 30 seconds to fill out. One of our pastors will reach out to every single family personally to help connect you to the group that best fits your family and schedule.
If you've drifted away from your life group, it's time to come back. Get back with the fold. If you're already in a life group, I'm challenging you to start inviting people you know into your group.
But I'm asking you to take this step today. Before you leave your seat, text the word GROUP to 24141.
