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This Sunday we’re digging into chapters 12 and 13. This is the sad story of Israel's division and the failures of two kings. Rehoboam, Solomon’s son, is given a chance to unite the people. Unfortunately, he doesn’t listen to wise counsel. Instead, he follows his friends' advice, responds harshly, and loses most of the kingdom. His story challenges us to ask: Are we genuinely looking for wisdom, or simply looking for someone to affirm what we have already decided? Jeroboam, who becomes king over the ten northern tribes, faces a different temptation. Rehoboam’s problem is pride; Jeroboam’s problem is fear. Afraid of losing the kingdom God had given him, Jeroboam takes matters into his own hands. This never ends well. He creates a false system of worship rather than trusting God’s promise. Yet even through their foolish decisions, God remains sovereign and accomplishes what He had already said He would do. By chapter 13, God confronts Jeroboam, but he refuses to turn from his rebellion. Astonishingly, even the prophet who confronts him eventually fails to obey God's clear command. Three people, three different circumstances, but the same fundamental problem: God has spoken, and they chose another voice. Most of us already know where God has spoken, and where our lives aren't in sync with His Word. If you’re like me, the question isn't, “What is God saying to me?” but “What am I going to do about what God has already said?”

I hate to say it, but this Sunday we come to one of the saddest turns in the story of Solomon. After weeks of seeing Israel experience incredible prosperity, security, and blessing, we arrive at 1 Kings 11. Everything begins to unravel. What makes Solomon’s story so sobering is that his downfall doesn’t happen overnight. The cracks had been forming in his heart long before they became visible in his life. As I’ve studied through this passage, I’ve been struck by the connection between what we love and what we worship. Solomon knew God’s commands, yet he allowed his love for foreign women to turn his heart toward other gods. His worship became divided. His story reminds us that spiritual drift often begins with a small compromise or something we think we can safely manage. But even in Solomon’s failure, we see God’s faithfulness. God judges Solomon’s sin but keeps His covenant with David. In the end, we are ultimately pointed toward the greater Son of David, Jesus. Solomon’s heart was divided; Jesus’ heart was completely devoted to the Father. My hope this Sunday is that we will examine our own hearts, recognize where we may be drifting, and find our hope in the faithful King whose heart never turns away.

This Sunday, we’ll see Solomon at the height of his reign. His wisdom, influence, and wealth are so great that the Queen of Sheba travels a great distance to see it for herself. What she discovers is even greater than she expected, and she ultimately recognizes that Solomon’s greatness is a gift from God. This was God’s intention all along. Solomon’s life reminds us that what God gives us is meant to point people beyond ourselves to Him. But beneath all the success, something is happening in Solomon’s heart. Chapter 10 shows us his incredible accomplishments, while chapter 11 reveals where his heart has been heading. It is both sad and sobering. It’s possible to be successful on the outside while slowly drifting from God on the inside. As we look at Solomon’s story, we’ll consider two questions: What am I accumulating that is slowly becoming what I trust instead of God? And is my success making much of God, or is it making much of me? Ultimately, we’ll be reminded that Jesus is the One who is greater than Solomon. He is the King whose heart never turned away from the Father, and in Him we have the embodiment of the wisdom of God.

Our Sunday study brings us to1 Kings chapter 9. This passage asks us to wrestle with a question that is incredibly relevant to all of us: What is success?  Solomon certainly looks like he has it all. He has completed the temple, built his palace, expanded his kingdom, accumulated wealth, and established international influence. By almost every human measure, Solomon is succeeding. But when God speaks to him, He doesn’t congratulate him on what he has built. Instead, God speaks to him about his heart. This really caught my attention because it’s easy for us to become so focused on what we are accomplishing that we forget to pay attention to what is happening inside of us. We can look at our careers, families, finances, ministries, or achievements and assume that if those things are going well, then we must be doing well spiritually. But God sees something deeper. Solomon is building an impressive kingdom, while God is looking for a heart that is wholly devoted to Him. This causes us to ask the question: While we are building the life we want, what kind of person are we becoming? Success isn't ultimately about what we accomplish with our hands, but about who we are becoming. God’s desire is that we would be a church whose hearts remain wholly devoted to Jesus. Because at the end of our lives, the most important things are not what we build, but what has been built in us.

This week we’re continuing our journey through 1 Kings chapter 8. We'll read Solomon’s beautiful prayer at the dedication of the temple. What strikes me about this prayer is how clearly Solomon understands that Israel’s greatest need isn’t simply relief from difficult circumstances. Their real need is forgiveness. Solomon knows that God’s people will sin, experience the consequences of their sin, and yet, when they turn back to God, they can trust that He hears them and forgives them. That is an incredibly hopeful picture of the character of God: He is holy enough to take our sin seriously, but merciful enough to welcome us when we turn back to Him. Praise the Lord for this! As we walk through the prayer, we’ll see him describe many difficult circumstances from the nation's past. This includes defeat, drought, famine, sickness, and exile. But the response is remarkably consistent: turn toward God, confess your sin, and ask Him to hear and forgive. Solomon understands that sin can disrupt our fellowship with God and bring painful consequences, but it does not have to be the end of our relationship with Him. God calls His people to repentance. When we turn back to Him, He is faithful to forgive and restore. Ultimately, this passage points us toward the heart of the gospel. We don’t simply have a God who knows our sin; we have a God who has made a way for our sin to be forgiven through Jesus. And God’s goal is not merely to forgive us and leave us where we are. Solomon prays that God would “incline our hearts to Him” so that we would walk in His ways. My hope this week is that we would not hide from God when we sin. We are encouraged to turn toward Him, receive His forgiveness, and allow His grace to change the direction of our lives.

This Sunday we’ll continue our journey through 1 Kings as we come to chapter 8 and the dedication of Solomon’s temple. After 7 years of planning and construction, the temple is finally completed, the Ark of the Covenant is brought into the Most Holy Place, and the glory of the Lord fills the temple. But as I’ve studied this chapter, I’ve been reminded that the building itself was never the point. The point was the presence of God among His people. That raises an important question for us: Are we keeping God at the center of all that we do? One of the things I love about this chapter is Solomon’s humility. When he looks at this incredible accomplishment, he doesn’t take the credit for himself. Instead, he looks back and says, “Look what God has done!” God had made promises generations earlier, and now Solomon was standing in the middle of their fulfillment. That is such a good reminder for us. We work, we plan, we lead, we sacrifice, and we play our part, but ultimately, God is the one who brings His purposes to pass. And I think there is something powerful about regularly stopping to remember how God has brought us to where we are. That’s especially meaningful to me as I think about our church. Every time we walk through the doors of Illuminate, we can be reminded of God’s faithfulness. The building is not sacred, and we never want to confuse a building with the presence of God, because Scripture tells us that we are the temple of the Holy Spirit. But the building itself can serve as a kind of memorial stone. It is a reminder of prayers answered, lives changed, people coming to faith, marriages restored, and the many ways He has been faithful to us. So this Sunday, I want us not only to look at what God did for Israel, but to look back at what God has done among us and say with grateful hearts, “Only God! Look how far You have brought us.

As we continue through 1 Kings this Sunday, we come to chapter 7 and examine the building of Solomon's palace, and the completion of the temple. What David had dreamed about, Solomon accomplished. Solomon had spent years preparing and building, and now the house of the Lord was finally finished. And yet, as I’ve spent time in this chapter, I’ve been struck by the tension between what Solomon was building and what we know was happening in Solomon’s heart. From the outside, there's so much to admire. Solomon was building the temple. He was leading Israel. He was experiencing incredible success. God had blessed him with wisdom, wealth, and influence. But if you're familiar with Solomon's story, you might know where it's heading. By chapter 11, Scripture will tell us that Solomon’s heart “was not wholly true to the LORD his God.” Somewhere along the way, a man who had done incredible things for God allowed other things to compete with God for his heart.  I think there’s something deeply challenging about that. It’s possible to do things for God without growing closer to God. We can serve. We can give. We can know our Bibles. We can show up every Sunday. We can even accomplish things that genuinely honor God and still allow our hearts to slowly drift from Him. And sometimes the things competing for our hearts aren’t even bad things. A career. Success. Financial security. Comfort. Relationships. Recognition. Even good things can become competitors for our hearts when we give them a place that belongs to God alone. So, as I’ve studied 1 Kings 7 this week, I’ve found myself coming back to one question: What is competing with God for my heart? Jesus would later warn that no one can serve two masters. Eventually, something will have our greatest allegiance. This Sunday, we’ll explore that tension together in 1 Kings 7 and consider this truth: What we build for God can’t replace a heart that belongs to God.

This Sunday we’re continuing our journey through 1 Kings as we come to chapters 5 and 6. This is the beginning of Solomon’s work to build the temple. As I’ve been studying these chapters this week, I’ve been reminded that some of the most important things God does in our lives happen in seasons that don’t seem particularly significant. Before Solomon ever built the temple, there was a great deal of preparation: gathering materials, organizing people, forming partnerships, and simply doing the work that needed to be done. It’s a good reminder that God is often preparing us through the ordinary things long before we see how He intends to use them. I think that’s an important word for many of us. We can spend so much time looking ahead to what we hope God will do next that we miss what He has placed right in front of us today. Maybe your most important ministry right now is loving your family well, being faithful in your marriage, investing in your children, serving someone who needs you, or simply walking faithfully with Jesus in the ordinary rhythms of life. The question isn’t always, “What great thing is God going to do through me?” Sometimes it’s simply, “What has God given me the opportunity to be faithful in today?” And then, in the middle of all the magnificent details of the temple, God speaks to Solomon about something even more important than the building itself: obedience. It’s possible to build something impressive for God while neglecting our walk with God. We can serve, lead, teach, and do good things while our hearts slowly drift. So this Sunday, I want us to be reminded that God cares more about the obedience of the builder than the beauty of the building. My hope is that as we look at Solomon’s story, we’ll each ask a simple but important question: Am I just building something for God, or am I faithfully walking with God?

This Sunday we're continuing our journey through 1 Kings, and at first glance, chapter 4 may seem like one of those passages you're tempted to skim over because it's filled with names and numbers. But beneath the surface is a powerful picture of what happens when God's wisdom moves beyond a single decision and begins shaping an entire life, and even an entire nation. Solomon asked God for wisdom, and now we see what that wisdom actually produced. One of the questions we'll wrestle with together is this: What does God's wisdom look like in everyday life? Most of us think of wisdom as making the right decision in a difficult moment. But Scripture shows us something much bigger. God's wisdom is seen in how we lead our families, steward our responsibilities, build teams, make decisions, and create environments where others can flourish. This chapter reveals far more than just a list of ancient names. My hope is that we will discover how God's wisdom brings order, peace, and flourishing, and why those blessings are never meant to replace our dependence on the God who gives them. I pray this passage will do for you what it has done for me - encourage, challenge, and remind all of us where true wisdom is found.

This Sunday we come to one of the most famous moments in Solomon’s life. God essentially gives the young king a blank check: “Ask what I shall give you.” Solomon could have asked for wealth, success, a long life, or the defeat of his enemies. Instead, he looks at the enormous responsibility in front of him and admits, “I don’t know what I’m doing.” So he asks God for wisdom. I love that! Solomon’s wisdom actually begins by recognizing how much he needs God. We’ve never had more information available to us than we do right now. Google can give us answers in seconds, and AI can gather and process more information than all of our ancestors combined. But more information doesn’t necessarily make us wiser. Biblical wisdom is seeing life from God’s perspective and choosing accordingly. And we need that kind of wisdom in our marriages, parenting, work, finances, relationships, leadership, and the decisions that shape our lives. I hate to say it, but Solomon’s story comes with a severe warning: there’s a big difference between knowing what is wise and actually doing it. The wisest man in the world would eventually make some incredibly foolish choices. I can relate to that, and I’m guessing you can too. This Sunday we’ll discover why wisdom begins with humility, what it means to have a “listening heart,” and why our greatest source of wisdom isn’t Solomon or any other human or human-made thing; it’s Jesus.

This Sunday we'll continue our journey through 1 Kings by looking at the opening verses of chapter 2. Last week we watched David pass the crown to Solomon. This week we'll discover that receiving a crown is much easier than carrying one. As David nears the end of his life, he gives his son one final charge before taking the throne. What he says may surprise you. Rather than offering military strategy, political advice, or leadership techniques, David points Solomon to something much deeper. At the heart of this passage is a timeless principle that applies to every one of us: before you lead anyone else, you must first lead yourself in walking faithfully with God. Whether you're leading a family, a business, a classroom, a ministry, or simply influencing those around you, the greatest leadership challenge isn't "How do I lead others?" but "Am I faithfully following the Lord?" We'll also explore what biblical strength really looks like in a culture that often gets manhood, leadership, and success wrong. I'm looking forward to opening God's Word together as we see how a promise God made to David over a thousand years before Christ ultimately finds its fulfillment in Jesus, the greater Son of David whose kingdom will never end. Looking forward to seeing you this Sunday, and come expecting God to encourage and challenge your heart through His Word!

This Sunday we begin a new teaching series through the book of 1 Kings, and I cannot wait! At first glance, 1 Kings may seem like a history book about ancient rulers, political intrigue, and a divided nation. But as we'll discover together, it is ultimately a book about the human heart. Every king, every leader, and every person in the story is faced with the same question: Will I trust and obey God, or will I insist on building my own kingdom? It's a question that is just as relevant today as it was three thousand years ago. We'll begin with the final days of King David and the dramatic struggle over who will succeed him. It is a fascinating story filled with ambition, courage, betrayal, mercy, and God's consistent faithfulness. More importantly, it reminds us that while human leaders rise and fall, God remains faithful to His promises. As we study the successes and failures of Israel's kings over the coming months, we'll continually be pointed to the one King who never fails: Jesus Christ. As I've been preparing for this series, I've been reminded of how easy it is to pursue my own plans without first asking what God desires. My prayer is that this study will challenge each of us to surrender every area of our lives to the Lordship of Jesus and to trust His ways over our own. So bring your Bible as we begin this incredible journey through 1 Kings.

This Sunday wraps up our study through 1 Timothy by looking at Paul's final charge to his young disciple, Timothy. The passage reads much like a commissioning ceremony. Before military officers, doctors, or law enforcement officers begin serving others, they're often reminded that their character matters just as much as their competence. Paul does something very similar with his young protege. After warning him about false teaching and worldly distractions throughout the letter, he turns his attention to Timothy himself and says, "Now let's talk about the kind of man God has called you to be." It's a powerful reminder that God is concerned not only with what we believe, but with who we are becoming. We'll look at Paul's four clear commands: flee what leads you away from Christ, pursue the character of Christ, fight the good fight of the faith, and faithfully live out the calling you've received until Jesus returns. Along the way we'll discover that Godliness isn't something that happens by accident. It is cultivated as we intentionally turn away from sin and pursue righteousness, faith, love, steadfastness, and gentleness. Those same qualities are needed by every follower of Christ today. Paul concludes his exhortation to Timothy not with another command, but with one of the most breathtaking descriptions of God in all of Scripture. He reminds Timothy, and us, that our motivation for faithful living doesn't come from trying harder, but from seeing God more clearly. When we remember that He is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, we find the strength to remain faithful no matter what lies ahead!

This Sunday we'll continue our journey through 1 Timothy as we begin the final section of Paul's letter in chapter 6. At first glance, it may seem like Paul suddenly changes subjects and begins talking about money. But as we've discovered throughout this letter, he's weaving a bigger theme as he draws everything together. Paul exposes the heart behind false teaching and contrasts it with the heart of true discipleship. As Jesus himself said - what we treasure most will shape the way we live, the way we serve, and the way we follow Him. One of the most challenging statements in the passage comes when Paul says that some viewed "godliness as a means of gain." They had turned God into a way of getting something they wanted even more than Him. Paul responds by redefining what true gain really is: "Godliness with contentment is great gain." We'll explore why money makes a terrible god, why contentment is one of the clearest marks of a mature believer, and how Christ Himself is the only treasure that can truly satisfy the human heart. As you prepare for Sunday, I'd encourage you to read 1 Timothy 6:3-10 and ask yourself one simple question: What does my heart treasure most? It's an honest question that every follower of Jesus must answer. I believe this passage will encourage us, challenge us, and remind us that there is nothing we could ever gain in this world that compares to gaining Christ.

This Sunday, we'll begin the final chapter of 1 Timothy and tackle two of the more tender verses in the New Testament. Paul addresses the relationship between slaves and masters in the first-century Roman world of Christians, but beneath the historical setting lies a timeless truth: the gospel reshapes every relationship we have. As we've seen throughout this letter, Paul is deeply concerned with how God's people conduct themselves within the household of faith. Together, we’ll discover how the gospel transforms the way we relate to both those over us and those under our care. We'll explore why Paul calls Christian slaves to honor their masters and how that instruction was never an endorsement of slavery but a call to live in a way that reflects the character of Christ. We'll also see how the gospel introduced a revolutionary idea into the ancient world. In Christ, masters and slaves stood on equal footing before God. We’ll explore Galatians 3:28, Ephesians 6:9, and the remarkable story of Philemon and Onesimus. We’ll see how Christianity planted the seeds that undermined the very institution it entered. Most importantly, we'll consider what this means for us today. We all live and work within relationships where we must decide whether we will treat people according to the world's values or according to the grace we have received from Christ. Whether you're leading others, working under authority, or navigating difficult relationships, this passage reminds us that the gospel is meant to be seen not only in what we believe but in how we treat one another.