Introduction:
We spend a good part of our life hoping to hear a word that is made up of only three letters. We are most often on a quest to secure it and will go to almost any length to hear this word. And whether you realize it or not you begin this quest at a very early age. Some of you, as I speak, are hard at work trying to figure out what this word is. So if you haven’t already figured it out the word is YES!
Illustration:
I don’t know about you but as I was growing up I worked hard at trying to figure out ways to insure that Mom or Dad would say yes. I don’t know how it worked around your house but I always got what I call the classic response. Here’s how it went, I would ask my dad if I could go somewhere or if I could have something it didn’t matter what it was because more times than not his answer was (ask audience to respond) go ask your mother. So I did and her answer was almost always (ask audience to respond) go ask your Dad. Now that always presented itself as somewhat of a dilemma to me but I was resourceful so I went back to my dad and said, “ Mom said it was alright with her if it’s alright with you”. I waited with anticipation to hear the word and finally after what seemed like an eternity there it was, he finally said YES. Yes, yes, yes! That’s the words we all want to hear even if we have to suffer the consequences for not telling the truth.
Illustration:
I heard about a little boy named Leroy. His birthday was nearing and he really wanted a new bike so he went to his mother and ask her if he could have a new bicycle for his birthday. She looked at him, as only a mother can do and hoping to teach him a lesson she said, “Leroy, you haven’t been acting very good lately. Why don’t you go upstairs to your room and write a letter to God telling Him why you deserve to get a new bicycle”. So he went up to his room and began to write, God, this is Leroy. I’ve been a good boy this year and I deserve a new bicycle for my birthday. Please send one. Signed Leroy. But after putting a little thought into what he had just written he crumpled the paper up and began a second letter. God, this is Leroy again. I‘ve been a pretty good boy this year and probably should get a new bicycle for my birthday. Please send one. Signed Leroy. But after putting more thought into what he had just written, he crumpled the second letter up and he threw it into the wastebasket in despair. In a flash Leroy ran down the stairs and headed straight for the front door. His mother yelled out, “Leroy where are you going”? Leroy said, “I’m going to church mom”. Leroy’s mother was feeling pretty good about the situation. Maybe she had finally gotten through to him. With that she ran to the front door and yelled, “hurry back dinner will be ready soon”.
Leroy ran down to the corner church and headed right up the steps. As he went through the front door he looked around to see if anyone was there. But of course, because it wasn’t one of their regular meeting times, no one was there. Leroy looked around and spotted a statue of Mary sitting near the altar. He approached it very cautiously looked around to see if anyone was watching and then grabbed the statue of Mary stuck it under his shirt and ran out of the church and back to his house. When he came through the front door he headed straight up the stairs to his bedroom and set down at his desk to pen a third and final letter. God, Leroy here, I’ve got your momma, send the bike or else. Signed Leroy.
Illustration:
Isn’t it amazing how extreme we will get just to hear the word YES and we guys are the worlds worst. Every married man in this auditorium can identify with what I’m saying. Guys, we would have begged on bended knees just to hear the woman we were in love with say YES to our marriage proposal.
But how do you get God say yes? Do we treat Him like Leroy did and try to force Him into saying yes? Do we ever try to bribe God into seeing things our way? Now we would all agree that sometimes God just doesn’t say yes no matter how badly we want Him to because it’s for our own good. But more times than not God wants to say yes but the problem is we fail to ask for the right things.
I think James 4:2b-3 explained it best.
Yet you do not have because you do not ask. 3You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures..
The NLT makes it clear.
And yet the reason you don’t have what you want is that you don’t ask God for it. And even when you do ask, you don’t get it because your whole motive is wrong – you want only what will give you pleasure.
So with that thought in mind, how do you get God to say YES. If you stop and think about it, Solomon had the answer.
I. LEARN TO LOVE THE LORD. (VS. 3)
3And Solomon loved the LORD,
1. The very first thing you and I must learn to do in order to receive favor from God is to learn to love the Lord.
2. In fact when our Lord established the church one of the principles it was founded on was Matthew 22:37 The Great Commandment said, “‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’
3. Until you and I learn to love the Lord like Solomon loved the Lord we’ll never understand how to receive His favor.
4. God loved Solomon and Solomon loved Him back.
5. When you learn to understand this principle you’ll live a First Corinthians 13 lifestyle.
II. LEARN TO FOLLOW THE LORD. (VS. 3)
walking in the statutes of his father David, except that he sacrificed and burned incense at the high places.
1. You and I must take every available opportunity to learn how to follow God if we are to secure His favor.
2. Before his death David spoke these words to his young son that would occupy the throne of Israel.
I Kings 2:3
3And keep the charge of the LORD your God: to walk in His ways, to keep His statutes, His commandments, His judgments, and His testimonies, as it is written in the Law of Moses, that you may prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn;
3. You and I have a responsibility to follow the Lord no matter where leads us because the final destination is always His Will.
4. There is favor in following.
5. When you and I live this principle it will cause us to be a doer of the Word.
III. LEARN TO SERVE THE LORD. (VS. 4)
4Now the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for that was the great high place: Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar.
1. You and I must develop the heart of a servant.
2. Here stood a young man that ruled over all Israel and yet he never forgot whom the ruler of the universe was. He served the Lord with the gladness described in Psalm 100:2
Serve the LORD with gladness; Come before His presence with singing.
3. Solomon went to Gibeon to serve the Lord that day. You and I are here in this sanctuary this morning because it’s where we go to find out where God wants us to serve Him.
4. You and I will find favor in being a doer of the Word.
5. When you understand this principle you’ll realize that it’s not what you get but what you give that matters the most.
IV. LEARN TO LISTEN TO THE LORD. (VS. 5)
5At Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream by night; and God said, “Ask! What shall I give you?”
1. God has something to say and if you and I will just learn to listen we’ll be blessed in it.
Illustration:
I’ve got to tell you, some people are really good at being selective listeners. At least my kids were. You’d tell them to do something and thirty minutes or an hour later you could ask them if they had done what you asked them to do and most of the time they would say, “I didn’t hear you say that”, so I’d give them a reminder. The problem is we have selective hearing. We tend to listen to what is beneficial to us and ignore the rest.
2. There was a reason God decided to come to Solomon that night. Solomon’s dream was nothing more than an extension of his fervent desire for wisdom in reality.
3. The very things that you and I dwell on every day are the real desires of our heart.
Listen to Psalm 37:4-5
4Delight yourself also in the LORD, And He shall give you the desires of your heart. 5Commit your way to the LORD, Trust also in Him, And He shall bring it to pass.
4. You and I have a blessing waiting on us. God wants to say yes. He wants to bring it to pass but first we have to learn to listen.
5. When you understand this principle you’ll reach the very heart of God.
V. LEARN WHAT TO ASK OF THE LORD. (VS. 6-9)
6And Solomon said: “You have shown great mercy to Your servant David my father, because he walked before You in truth, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with You; You have continued this great kindness for him, and You have given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is this day. 7Now, O LORD my God, You have made Your servant king instead of my father David, but I am a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in. 8And Your servant is in the midst of Your people whom You have chosen, a great people, too numerous to be numbered or counted. 9Therefore give to Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people, that I may discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of Yours?”
1. If you and I want God to say yes to our request then we had better learn what it is that God loves to say yes to.
2. Before you and I tell God what we want we ought to consider the guidelines. Matthew 6:33 says,
33But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.
3. In verses 11-14 God said yes to Solomon? Because Solomon’s request was right. He asked God for the wisdom and ability to do what God had already called him to do.
11Then God said to him: “Because you have asked this thing, and have not asked long life for yourself, nor have asked riches for yourself, nor have asked the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern justice, 12behold, I have done according to your words; see, I have given you a wise and understanding heart, so that there has not been anyone like you before you, nor shall any like you arise after you. 13And I have also given you what you have not asked: both riches and honor, so that there shall not be anyone like you among the kings all your days. 14So if you walk in My ways, to keep My statutes and My commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your days.”
4. When our request is for God to give to us the wisdom and ability to do what He has already called us to do according to Matthew 6:33 “all these things will be added unto you”.
5. When you understand this principle it will cause you to live every day in His will.
Conclusion:
God said YES to Solomon because Solomon asked for God’s will. As a result Solomon became the most blessed man on the face of the earth.
When you and I ask for God’s will and God’s wisdom to work in our lives His answer will always be YES! But I suppose the most important thing this morning is whether or not you and I will say YES to God. He’s ready to say YES to us. Are we ready to say YES to Him. So as we stand to our feet and the musician’s come and begin to play you will be given the opportunity to say YES to God.
First and foremost, God can’t say yes to you until you’ve said YES to Him.
· If you’ve never received Him as your Savior, you need to say YES. Yes Lord, I’ll come forward and receive you as my Savior this morning.
· If you are out of fellowship with God, you need to say YES. Yes Lord, I’m coming home
· If you are here this morning and you don’t what God’s will for your life is, you need to come and say YES. Yes Lord, if you’ll give me what I need to do what you’ve called me to do I’ll come.
