Amen. Thank you, fellas. Appreciate that. Good morning. It is good to be here. And there should be a little excitement in the air. I remember being at college in December. And boy, count down those last few days and looking forward to heading home. Some of you probably getting packed up. Maybe just have a short drive. Others of you, a long drive. Usually the only thing standing between you and that is something called finals and I think that's probably coming up here and so I remember those days those are exciting times getting home getting a nice break see family and Looking forward to this final week. It is great to be here. I sure appreciate the privilege to speak in Chapel. I appreciate Invitation brother bill dr. Comfort Appreciate ambassador again. We're just up in Asheville. Many of you know our pastor pastor Bray took a number of classes here Got some degrees brother Owen Clark works with our youth and we've had a number of our young people Come here and I've got a number of young people. I know from different ministries have a niece that's here and we appreciate ambassadors Nice to have it close. We've been here many college trips many functions for the teenagers. It's been a great blessing I'm excited to see what God has been doing is doing and we look forward to many more Good things from ambassadors as great as already been mentioned to have my father-in-law mother-in-law here Appreciate them coming over from Kings Mountain not too far away. My wife is back there and we have three girls Our youngest daughter's back there Emily. She's almost five and then we've got two girls one in fourth grade one in eighth grade They're in school this morning. They didn't get to come down here. So it is great to be here You're up in the Asheville area. We'd love to have you stop by Temple Baptist. Some of you have been there before and Trust that the Lord will use what he's laid on my heart here this morning He'll turn your Bibles to first Kings chapter 10 this morning first Kings chapter 10 And we're gonna look at just a couple verses and then move over to chapter 14. So we'll be in first Kings primarily this morning First Kings chapter number 10. And we're going to start reading at verse 14. And we're going to go right over to chapter 14 this morning. First Kings 10. Let's start reading at verse 14. Now, the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was 600 threescore and six talents of gold. Beside that, he had of the merchant men and of the traffic of the spice merchants and of all the kings of Arabia and of the governors of the country. And King Solomon made 200 targets of beaten gold. 600 shekels of gold went to one target and he made 300 shields of beaten gold three pound of gold went to one shield and the king put them in the house of the forest of Lebanon Now if you'll just turn over just a few pages of chapter 14 Just a couple pages to your right first Kings 14, and then we're going to read one more short passage first Kings chapter 14 we're gonna look at verse 25 and Solomon is now dead. It's about 30 or 40 years later And his son Rehoboam is now king and we'll start reading at first Kings 14 verse 25 It came to pass in the fifth year of King Rehoboam that she sheik king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem And he took away the treasures of the house of the Lord and the treasures of the king's house even took away all and he took away all the shields of gold which Solomon had made and And King Rehoboam made in their stead, or made in their place, brazen, or brass shields, and committed them unto the hands of the chief of the guard, which kept the door of the king's house. And it was so, when the king went into the house of the Lord, that the guard bare them, and brought them back into the guard chamber." Perhaps an unusual portion of scripture to read this morning, but I want to preach just a very simple message the Lord's light in my heart, simply called Brass to Gold. brass to gold. Let's pray. Father, I thank you for the student body, Lord. Lord, I thank you for these young people that are here. Eagerly, Lord, I trust to walking in your will, wanting to serve you, Lord. Thank you for the testimonies that we heard, Lord, of your goodness. Answered to prayer, how you're working, Lord, for you are a good and great God. Now Lord, I pray you'll be with these students. Lord, it's a busy time of year, no doubt, excitement over finishing up, Lord, and just a few things, standing between them and Christmas break and being with their family and getting a break and maybe some more rest, or Lord, just the opportunity to get some, recharge their batteries if you would, Lord, before next semester. And Lord, I pray that you'd help them in these final few days, maybe about a week left as they prepare to head home, that you'll give them protection. I pray they'd finish strong. I pray they do well in their finals, any final projects, Lord, and they'd continue, Lord, to walk with you. Lord, would you use me now this morning? I appreciate the opportunity to speak here, Lord. Lord, it's your word. I'm simply speaking for you, Lord, and I pray that you'll guide my lips, my mouth, that I'd only say those things. that you would have, Lord, for us here today in this attendance, where we thank you for the privilege to open your word and to mine the truths that are in it. And, Lord, I pray today that our hearts would be tender and receive, Lord, with eagerness, your word. Help me now, Lord, I pray, and we ask it in the name of your Son, Jesus Christ. Amen. Perhaps an unusual passage of Scripture. What is he going to speak on here? I'm going to give you just a little background. I'll try to go pretty quick here. If you were to go back and read a few chapters back in 1st Kings 7, you will see that Solomon had finished building the great temple. He spent seven years, I believe, building the temple for God. The Bible says he spent 13 years building his own house. But then it mentions that he built another house, and it's called, what we read here, it's called the house of the forest of Lebanon. And it gives about a brief description. I'm not 100% sure what that house was. It gives a description. It talks about how long it was, how high it was, how wide it was. It was a beautiful place. I'd like you to imagine that this auditorium is the house of the forest of Lebanon. Not exactly sure what that house was used for. It appears it may have been used for judgment. talks about having a porch of judgment. It talks about him building an ivory throne from which Solomon would judge. So it may be, and I'm speculating, probably some men here that may have studied it more, speculating it may have been a house of judgment where Solomon would listen to different things, cases, use his wisdom, and make judgments. I'm not sure exactly, but if it was something like this, it was about 150 to 200 feet long, and if you read the description of the house of the forest of Lebanon, it was magnificent. Cedar. just up an elevated throne, 12 lions lining the steps. Everything was overlaid in gold, the Bible says. Everything was pure gold. We read a portion there of all the majesty and might of Solomon's kingdom. And it made an interesting reference there to him making specifically 200 targets or small round shields and then 300 larger shields of beaten gold. And we may wonder, OK, we know that. And in my mind, and I'm not sure, but there were 300 of them. In my mind, that if this were the hallway, and up here was the throne that Solomon would judge on, my mind would say that those 300 shields were lined up on each side of the wall. 150, perhaps, on each side. So as you walked in, the entrance coming in, I mean, you could only just gaze and wonder in awe as the gold would shine, just all the majesties. You would walk down, perhaps, and stand before the king. pronounce judgment and hear your case it was magnificent must have been breathtaking but now as we move to first Kings 14 times have changed as you know most of you Solomon Like many, started well, didn't he? Started strong, lived for God. And then as you read his life, of course, as he multiplied wives, as he multiplied wealth, as his heart began to leave God and no longer walk with God, the kingdom, and especially spiritually, began to crumble. And Solomon, if you read the sad story of the last part of his life, how sad it is to read what he did, what he became. Now he's dead. But much of what he had still remained. The shields, the gold. But his son Rehoboam is now king. And Rehoboam was nothing like his father in any way. In fact, 2 Chronicles 12, verse 1 says this. It says, It came to pass that Rehoboam had established a kingdom and had strengthened himself. He forsook the law of the Lord. and all Israel with him. As we read in 1 Kings 14, if you were to read there, it tells you in verse 22, And Judah did evil in the sight of the Lord, and they provoked him to jealousy with their sins which they had committed, above all that their fathers had done. Rehoboam was not a good king. He did evil in the sight of God. He forsook God. And in his fifth year of his reign, we read the story that we read here. God stirs up an adversary, Shishak, king of Egypt, to come up and battle in war against Judah and Jerusalem. And we see what happens here. And we have a very interesting story that perhaps we would not normally read except in passing. But God specifically mentions this, and so I want us to pause and consider, why would God stick this little story, if you would, in Scripture? The more I study Scripture, the more I ask myself that. You know, there's many things not in the Scriptures. There's many things God does not mention, but what's in here, God wanted in here for you and I. Why is that in here? And sometimes we have to ask yourself that and really dig. Lord, why would you put this? It doesn't seem that important to me. But Scripture tells us there in verse 26, God says, write it down, that Shishak, as he ransacked and he besieged Jerusalem and he spoiled the city, we hear the phrase, to the victor goes the spoils, no doubt taking many things back. Obviously, he walked into the house of the forest of Lebanon and no doubt he was attracted by those 300 gold shields. And it says he took them. In fact, it specifically says he took those shields, every one of them, which Solomon had made, took them off, and no doubt took them back to Egypt as, boy, just to maybe put them in the house of his gods. Maybe as a great token of, look what I have done. These are now mine. And then we come to the verses I'd like us to look at. Verse 27 and 28. Lord, why would you put this, why this small little commentary on what Rehoboam did? says in verse 27, let's read it again. And King Rehoboam made in their stead or made in their place, you know, the house was empty, the walls were bare. Instead of just leaving them bare, instead of just, he had a number of options he could have done. Well, look at those. He could have certainly went after the shields of gold in the future. He could have mustered his forces, got his strength back. He could have said, we're going to bring those things back. They were my father's. They were in this house. He could have done nothing. He could have made new gold ones, I suppose. But it's interesting, it says what he did here. It says, and King Rehoboam made in their place or stead brazen or brass shields. Committed them into the hands of the chief of the guard which kept the door of the king's house now We're not told specifically that he put him back in the house of the Lebanon He may have but it says here. He made 300 identical shields out of brass He gave him to the chief of the guard and then it says in verse 28 and it was so and When the king went into the house of Lord, whenever King Rehoboam went to the temple, went to the house of Lord, they must have had a massive procession. Maybe there were trumpets. The guards would line up with these shields, brass, and he would make a grand entrance into the house of the Lord. And it says in the guard would bear them and brought them back into the guard chamber. We might say, well, that's that's nice. I never heard that before. That that piques my interest a little bit. But what does that have to do with me? Does that have to do with me as a college student, as a faculty member? What in the world can that possibly mean to me? That's an interesting thing. Maybe I could chew on it a little bit. But before we get to that, I'd like us to just, real quick, before we get into the meat of the message, just notice some differences between brass and gold. No doubt we can look up and we see some, I would assume, brass chandeliers. I would doubt they're gold. They may be. But you might have to have a little more security, probably, if word got out that those chandeliers were pure gold. Now, they look gold. They're shiny like gold, but they're, I'm pretty sure, brass or brass-plated. I mean, they're nice, and I'm sure it costs a good amount of money, but they're certainly not gold. There's a large difference between brass and gold. I would look at the current cost of brass today. If you were to go to a scrapyard, you need some money for gas, spark plugs, whatever you need, all right? You need some food money. You know, sometimes we'll do whatever. I remember a lot of students would give blood down at campus. I mean, whatever you can do to get some money together to help pay things. Maybe you say, well, I can get some scrap metal or something here. I'm going to take to the scrapyard. You know, right now, brass is going for $1.50 a pound. Now, you'd have to have a lot of brass to get a whole lot. However, gold, as you probably know, is worth a little bit more. Current price about a week ago was over $1,700 an ounce. An ounce. That's a big difference between brass and gold. Brass is fairly cheap, fairly common. Not too many people collect brass. It's not that rare. In fact, it's a combination of copper and zinc, and you can pretty much get anywhere. Most of us have walked in souvenir stores and trinket stores and probably bought one maybe for a family member once. It's brass. It's nice. It's shiny. I mean, it looks pretty. It looks like gold, but it's certainly not the same thing. Gold, on the other hand, is expensive, rare, valuable, highly prized. We have sayings today like the gold standard. There was a gold rush, you know, there wasn't a brass rush, all right? The ultimate at the Olympics is the gold medal, the highest achievement. We think of heaven described as a street of gold. We think of even a book biography or the saying on golden shores. You know, there's lots of things. I also just look that we don't have on here. I have a doctor mentioned he was one of the two pastors that married us. We got married in Shelby back in 1995. And obviously, my wife's family, Emmanuel. So he helped marry us. And, you know, my wife put on my finger a golden wedding ring. I don't know if there's any couples in here engaged, but I wonder what you'd think if you got a brass wedding ring. All right. Now, you know what? I looked online, and you know what? The brass wedding rings look identical. In fact, you may not be able to tell the difference. A brass wedding ring you could buy right now for $15, all right? I'm not saying you should do that, but you could save some. After all, it's just a token, right? It's just a symbol. Now, a golden wedding ring, if my recollection is, I remember going with my wife to purchase this here, I believe we paid $2 to $250 for this wedding ring back in 1995. We got it, I think, at Arnold's near Shelby. It's 14 karat gold, which is not the highest. I think 24 karat's the rarest. But still, a big difference between this wedding ring and a brass one. You say, well, OK, well, what are you getting at? Well, you know what? Brass and gold are similar in appearance and look. But they're not the same, are they? They're quite different. And we have here in this story a man replacing gold, that which is valuable, precious, that which stands for majesty. splendor, might, purity, and replacing it with brass. You know, I was looking at this, just one more interesting fact, the way my mind works. I was looking at what it said, and I don't know if the three pounds of gold that Solomon used were the same as today. I'm sure it wasn't. But if it were exactly three pounds per shield, in today's current prices, each of those shields that Solomon made would be worth $80,000. The total amount of those shields would be $25 million, today's market. The brass shields today would be $4.50 a shield, and all of them together would be just a little over $1,300. But you know, to the common observer, if you walked into that house and didn't know better, you might be fooled into thinking that those brass shields were gold. You might just get away with the fact that no one would know that what you're looking at is really not that valuable, really not that significant. You know what Rehoboam did is something that unfortunately today we see all too common. What many a born-again believer of God has done is replace brass for gold. Gold is God's best for your life. There's nothing higher than that. It's God's perfect will. It's what he wants you to do. It's why he made you. That's why he's given you your talents and the gifts he's given you. He has something specific he wants you to do. That's the gold standard, if I could put it that way. It doesn't get any better. There's no higher achievement. That's the place where you have true joy, true peace, true satisfaction, true fulfillment. Gold always has and even today represents purity, majesty, might, splendor. We might say the best of the best. That's why we have gold wedding rings. That's why when you're wanting to get engaged, ladies, you're not interested in something fake. You want a diamond. Maybe with a gold band. That signifies something in your marriage. The best. We love each other. We're not interested in second best, second rate. We talk about the higher plane. Lord, put me on higher ground. Even the scriptures say that, doesn't it? Job 2310, He knoweth the way that I take. When He hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold. As gold. You know, brass for gold. Easily done if we're not careful. Scripture tells us, and you're aware of it, many promises. We understand that the Christian life is one of true joy. John 10.10, I've come that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly. John 15, 11, these things have I spoken unto you that my joy might remain in you and that your joy might be full. All through Scripture, you see that God wants you to have the best. He held nothing back, right? When he gave us his son, he gave us the best. He's never held anything back, Romans 8 says, and he demands the best from us. And he wants us to experience that full joy, full life, full satisfaction. We're reminded of first Corinthians 13 one. Many of us have memorized that the love chapter charity, though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels and have not charity. Listen to the words I'm become as sounding brass. Or a tinkling cymbal, it's just hollow. This is not the same. Others may think that that's gold, but but I know it's not. It's just it's just a cheap substitute. Notice what Rehoboam did here. Verse 27. He made 300 shields, same as his dad had. The guards carried them and held them. I'd have to assume that they did the same thing for his father. And maybe wherever Solomon went, or certainly to the house of the Lord, I'm sure it must have been a grand procession, that perhaps that was just the highlight. I mean, people would come out to see this. I mean, look at these soldiers. Look at these glistening, beautiful shields showing the might and the majesty of Solomon and his kingdom and all that God has done. It must have been breathtaking. He made 300 shields. The guards carried them just like they did for his father. They had a procession wherever they went. The shields glittered and shone just like gold. Trumpets blew. The shields were held high. All was impressive, except for one thing. They were made out of brass, not gold. It was a substitute. And any time you substitute in the Christian life good for best, there's something wrong. You've heard it said before, right? The enemy of best is always good. Hey, how's things going? Good. How's everything? Fine. Everything great? It's OK. Now, not to say we don't have dips in our life. We understand that. We're human. We're not always going to be on cloud nine, I suppose, 24-7. But when we begin to just substitute, well, you know, I mean, it's the semester. It's been OK. I've had better. Things are going, you know, I mean, it's, I'll be okay over Christmas break, you know, whatever we say. I'll get it all back to what it was before. But like Rehoboam, Rehoboam knew that those were not gold. Rehoboam knew that that was not real. Rehoboam knew that though the shields looked the same and people may have been fooled, it was all empty. It was hollow. It was vain. It was a show. It didn't fool anybody, really. It just made them feel better. We see that in Christianity, don't we? Contemporary Christian music. How often? I remember being bondage to that. Boy, it makes you feel close to God, doesn't it? But not really. We can look at just about any current event, no doubt, that you talk about in classes. And we look at the modern movement today. And really, isn't that what it is? Brass for gold. It looks nice. It looks good. It looks like the real thing. It fools some people, but there's nothing really there. It's hollow. It's empty. It's not the real thing. It's a facade. It's a ghost town. There's nothing back there. Whether it be music, or even our Bible versions, or how churches worship, or the church movement that we see sweeping our country, sucking many people up. It's brass for gold. It's not real. It's not long-lasting. And if you're not careful, perhaps I'm speaking to one today, sitting in this auditorium, It can happen easy at college, especially at a Christian college. I know, I went to four years, my wife and I, Pensacola Christian College. I can remember, I can remember putting brass for gold. I can remember being a youth ministry Bible major. I can remember singing, but not really going it. Now, I can remember going on visitations and soul winning and door to door. I can remember doing the Christian ministries on Saturday. I can remember doing devotions, giving praises. I can remember all that stuff many times, just putting on an empty, hollow, sort of practiced, oh, amen, love the Lord, praise the Lord, type thing. Where down inside, it just wasn't the same. Perhaps I'm speaking to someone today, you know it, you know it, and God knows it. You've substituted brass for gold. Maybe in your prayer life. It's dry, it's dead, it's just... I don't know, it's sort of lost what I used to have. Maybe it's your devotions, your quiet time, that can easily go. This time of year, you're busy, you're hectic, maybe you're working, and sleep is few, and you've got grades in your mind, you say, wow, I'm sure, I wouldn't be surprised if Rehoboam said, you know, one of these days, I'm gonna go back and get those shields. One of these days, I'm gonna go get those things. I'm gonna get them, don't worry, I'll get it back, I'll get it back, I'll get it back, you know how we do. It's in our flesh. Well, once semester's over, I'll get right with over Christmas. I'll have plenty of time to give the next semester. And, you know, we do that. And then what we never do sometimes we never do. We get and we just get satisfied with the brass. We make excuses. Well, they're not that bad. They're pretty close. It's OK. And we forget what we once had maybe in your soul winning. Maybe being involved in your church. Man, at first you were just, woo, gung-ho. Now it's just sort of monotonous. And that's something all of us fight. Men on this stage, myself, that's a constant battle that will plague you till you get to heaven. Doesn't matter. Don't think there's some magical moment where you're going to be an adult, you're going to be married, you're going to be in the ministry, and just every minute of every day is just, woo-hoo, glory land. You're going to have to fight the easy substitute of brass for gold. If everything's OK, it's good. You're singing, you're service, you're studies. It's very easy to do it in a college setting. It's a good, easy temptation for this. You probably haven't stopped doing a lot of those things. There may be somebody. But most are probably continuing, praying, devotion, soul winning, doing the things you're supposed to do. But maybe even those around you, maybe even some roommates or friends really don't know. You say everything's OK, everything's really good. Oh, yeah. No, is everything? Oh, no, I'm just tired. And sometimes we use some wording like that. Your walk with God, though, has become a chore. It's become a little bit of a duty. Maybe you've let something steal those shields of gold. Maybe bitterness, envy, maybe discouragement. Maybe something didn't go the way you thought it was. Maybe you came and you thought, man, I thought everybody on campus would just be on fire. I mean, it doesn't matter. And this is a wonderful campus and a great student body, but there are no perfect Christian colleges. There are no perfect churches. I mean, I just thought everybody would. I'm sort of bummed out now. I guess I just sort of lost my zeal. I lost my passion. Somebody said something to me. I don't know. I got discouraged. And so I just sort of stopped doing what I was going to do. And I sort of quit. That's easy to do. Maybe you lost those shields of gold. Maybe it happened quick. You blinked and they were gone. Maybe you lost him gradually. You saw it gone, but you you lacked the strength to to get him back. I'm reminded of the words of Christ in the last book of the Bible, Revelation two for probably very familiar. Nevertheless, I have somewhat against the cells left. I first love. Wasn't intentional, perhaps just a gradual. Slowing away. I may be speaking to someone this room. I don't want to put everybody in the same You may be here today and praise the Lord You've not substituted brass for gold. The shields are up there. You are walking with God. You're having the time of your life You're you're you're passionate you're zealous about what the Lord will have you to do. The fire is burning inside You're walking in God's will doesn't mean you're perfect. But but be careful. Can I warn you? The enemy will not allow those shields to just stay there. They're extremely tempting to the enemy Anybody would like to have those shields. She-Shack came and got them. You need to guard them. You need to guard them well. You need to stand your ground. You need to understand that those shields of gold, that idea of the best God has for you. This is what God wants me to do. I'm convinced of it. And when I'm doing that, I feel no greater satisfaction. I feel as close to God. Those shields of gold, you must guard. You must protect. You must stand your ground. You will not keep them without a fight. I'm sure, Brother Comfort, many of those who've preached for many years can give you many story after story of church, ministry, pastor, But when you ask about him, oh, well, something happened. Him and I were just speaking before the service. And my Christian school I went to, well, it's not fundamental anymore. Well, that camp I used to work, well, now it's not fundamental anymore either. And well, that person left. Unfortunately, they did not. The Christian life is not too difficult to start, is it? It's very hard to finish. In fact, go through scripture. Very few Bible characters. were faithful their entire life. Some were. Think of a Daniel. Very few Solomon. Oh, even David, one of the gold standards, we might say. Man after God's own heart. Lost those shields. The enemy wants them. Our flesh, the world. Stay close to Christ, young person. Guard your heart. Never compromise. Make sure your relationship with the Lord is not built upon this university. And so when you leave here, because you're no longer in the university. That's the only thing that kept your walk with God the way it was. You see that a lot of young people in youth groups, as long as they're in that setting and that environment, we said a lot of places, everything's great. But as soon as they leave, and maybe it was the youth group that kept them close or it wasn't really the we see that in Christian schools. I'm a graduate of a Christian school. As long as you were in school and you were within the boundaries and within the rules, boy, you may be. But as soon as you got out, You see, there wasn't really a real relationship with God. It was based on your school, your university, maybe it was your parents. It wasn't yours. I'm speaking to someone today and you say, wow, you know what? My shields of gold are there. I'm loving it. This is great. God, I'm growing in the Lord every day. I feel close to God. Be careful. Be careful. Don't blink. Don't take a day off. Oftentimes, the world knows more than us. I love sports and follow it a lot. And I remember reading a lot about that in stories. And any professional athlete will almost, without exception, tell you. I remember reading a story about an old veteran pitcher in the major leagues and how a young pitcher came on the major league team. And so this young pitcher went to the older one and said, can you give me some advice? You've been in the major leagues for 20-some years. What's the secret? And I remember reading this. And the pitcher said, you can never, ever take a day off. The moment you take a day off. The next day is easier to take another day off. And you get in that routine. And then that young man said, boy, I didn't realize that. I just thought he'd come and play. And these guys are practicing and working out every day, 365 days a year. You know, that's true in the Christian life. Christmas break is a dangerous time, both for our students in our Christian school up at Temple and at college. I often tell the young people, you know, the very thing that you don't like, school, homework, is often the very thing that keeps you close to God. As soon as you get out of that, you let down the comfort zone, you take a break, you put your arms down, boxing, and boom! There goes the knockout punch as you sleep in and skip a church service, catch up on sleep, and get back to soaring when you come back. It's an easy way to substitute brass for gold. 1 Peter 5, 8, Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil. as a roaring lion walketh about, seeking whom he may devour." You know that verse. Not only that, we have within us an enemy, a traitor of the flesh. We need not go anywhere else. We need not blame everything on the devil. I'd like to finish this morning, though, by speaking directly to those who perhaps are sitting here and you say, that's me. That's me. My gold shields are gone or they're quickly slipping and I can see it. Maybe I don't know what to do. Maybe a friend's noticed it. Maybe a professor has even asked me I'm a little concerned. Maybe you've said, well, it's a busy time of year, and we sometimes will use that don't feel good. And that's certainly a valid reason many times. Tired, and it's easy. It's tough. I want you to notice, though, what Rehoboam did not do. He made no attempt to go after and get the gold shield back. He was king for 12 more years. He knew every day that those shields were down there. No one said it was going to be easy. It wasn't going to be easy to get those back. You're not going to just walk down and get them. You're going to have to fight for them. You may lose your life. You may lose a lot of people. But those shields were a sign of not only your father's, but really his walk with God, and in a way, a symbol of Israel. Once the kingdom crumbled spiritually, everything crumbled. And the gold being gone and taken was just a small symbolism of the spiritual Progression downward Solomon's Kingdom. Why didn't Rehoboam get him? Why'd he go after him? He took the easy way I'm just gonna make 300 new shields out of brass I'll shine them up. I look just as shiny. I look really good. I look great. It'll look like it's just like it's always looked It'll look exactly the same Except down inside. It's not the same It's not the same. You know what he did he became satisfied with second best, third best, fourth best. And if you're not careful, my life and your life will do the same thing. Well, you know, I'm not in major sin. I mean, it's not like I'm an atheist or an agnostic. It's not like I left church. I'm just not as involved as I used to be. I just, you know, it's easy to do that. I want to encourage you, young people. I want to challenge you. Get those shields back. Restore your wayward relationship with the Lord, if the Holy Spirit has convicted you. Humble yourself. Rehoboam needed to humble himself. He needed to forsake his sin to God. He needed to say, God, I've sinned. This country has sinned. My leadership. I'm going to get those back if it costs me everything. He never did. He just made a cheap substitute. 1 Peter 5.5, for God resisteth or warreth against the proud. The pride. Well, I'm not going to do anything. I'll be fine. And giveth grace to the humble. Lord, I've let things slip. Maybe I even knew it all along and didn't want to admit it. Maybe I'd just build up the facade. You know, it's harder to keep up a facade than to be real, to constantly pretend. And it takes a lot of work. I remember that. I remember a lot of years in high school and college. I mean, you've got to work at it. You don't really have to work at it if you understand being in God's perfect will. It's natural. It's wonderful. You've got to work at faking the smile, pretending to sing, sharing. It's sort of hollow. You can see it in someone's eyes. Get those shields back. Make no mistake, though, it will not be easy. It will not be easy. Just coming and making a decision, saying a little prayer, raising your hand, get them back. This is going to get them back. Takes a lot more than that. It can only be done by the power of the Holy Spirit. It cannot be done in your own strength. It can't be done at all. And you say, well, how do I do that quickly? It's very simple. It's so simple we often miss it. You've got to retrace your steps. Let me ask you, when did you lose the shields of gold? Walk backwards. How long ago was it? A week? A month? Five years? When was it? When can you look back and say, when were you closest to Christ? Can you look back and say, since you've been saved, when were you on the mountaintop? Say, oh, man, I remember back when I was a junior in high school. Man, that was just, OK. Why is it not like that now? I just remember, I went on this mission trip last summer. Man, I'm telling you, I came back. That's not quite the same. OK, why not? Retrace the steps. Go back. You ever lose something or misplace something? I'm sure that happens in the dorms, right? Hey, hey, hey, where's my phone? I'm not talking about people messing with you, roommates. Where, where, where? Where's my wallet? Oh, man, my keys, whatever it may be. At home, the remote. Maybe an important paper to turn in. Well, I can't, what happens when you lose something? If you're like me, you know what you do? You do a quick, rushed, panic look, right? You try to look in all the obvious places. What happens then when you can't find them in the obvious places? You slow down, don't you? You're like, OK, I've got to get serious. Maybe you pray, Lord, I've got to have that paper. I've got to have them. I've got to have my wallet and my license. Then you know what you normally do if you're like me, you get serious. You think, man, I've got to, OK, where was I? OK, I remember having them, third period. Man, did I leave it at the counter in the bookstore? And you retrace your steps, if you're like me. And many times, not all, many times you go, that's exactly, I forgot, I left them there. See, you get really, really serious about looking. Some of us, we just like to do the quick thing. OK, I need to get right there. OK. But we're not really serious. We just do it quick. You're never going to get the shields down if you don't retrace your steps. And that can be humbling. That can get ugly. As you look back and say, what was it that made me go astray? Was it a wrong relationship? Did I allow something in my life? Did I stop doing something I should have done? Am I right with my parents? What is it exactly? Was it just a slow thing? Did I know it was coming all along? Maybe there's someone in the room. Say, you know what? If I retrace my steps, I don't think I ever had shielded gold. Perhaps. You say, I don't know if I've ever really. And again, Christian life's not a feeling. I don't know that I've ever truly been born again and experienced that. I just sort of grown up in that environment. I just go for the flow. If you have shields of brass hanging in your life, let me encourage you. Let me challenge you. Let me beg you. Would you tear them down today? Don't let them just be up there. You'll get used to them. You'll even convince yourself that those are gold and everything's great. You go through your whole life, second best, third best. Maybe occasionally thinking back, you know, I do remember those days. That used to be the sweetest days I ever had. I just remember, oh, well, not too bad today. Listen, young person, please determine to have God's best for your life. That's what he wants for you. Don't settle for anything less than that. Retrace your steps back to where it began. Allow God, the master builder, to pick up the pieces, put them back together, get those shields of gold in their rightful place. We can say thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory. through our Lord Jesus Christ. Let's pray. Father, I thank you the privilege to open your word. Lord, I remember very vividly sitting where these students that many a chapel where I was tired, many a chapel, Lord, when I was just there, I was just existing and Lord, that happens. We're sinners. We're weak. Life is difficult, schoolwork. Many of these young people are no doubt working, and Lord, they're just tired. Lord, we need to be careful we don't misunderstand tiredness and physical tiredness for spiritual, Lord, weakness or replacement. Lord, I pray for some young people. Lord, you encourage them in the Lord today. Would you help them, Lord, if they've let things slip? Lord, not just to make a decision, but to be serious about saying, God, I don't want anything best. I may have settled for second best in a choice of a future husband or wife. Lord, I may have settled for second best in something. Lord, I don't want that. I want your best. You gave your best for me. Lord, would you work now, I pray, in this invitation time as your spirit has spoken to us individually. Lord, would you work? Would you move? Would you restore? Would you forgive? Would you lead? Would you guide? We'll thank you for that comfort.