Sunday at The Family Business: A Guide to The Good Life (Mid-Season Bonus)

Hello, I'm Steve Alesi, and I want to welcome you to another episode of the Family Business Podcast with the Alesssies. And I'm all by myself today as I talk to you about things we can't really say on Sunday. Actually, what we're realizing more and more, guys, is that family is everybody's business, and that's what we focus on here in the podcast. It's not so much the business side of what we do, but our family and how we work together in the business side of what we do. Now, let me say this right away. We have already recorded a bunch of episodes for season one. And I want to thank you for joining us and being a faithful listener and for some of the questions that you send our way. But right now we're breaking and we're getting ready in the middle of this break for season two. And I've already recorded some, and I can't wait for you to be able to hear what our family is talking about here in the podcast. But right now, what we're going to do is step into our family business that we do on Sunday. You're gonna hear a message, and this particular message goes right in line with the theme we've been running with all year called The Guide to the Good Life. And it's looking in the book of Proverbs at some of the wisdom principles that one of the wisest men of all, Solomon, had to share. And what he talks about is some of the truths that help us deal with our families as well as help us get out of some of the dysfunction that much or a lot of us deal with in our own families and in our own lives. So why don't we step into that message? And I think you're really gonna enjoy it. It was this January when our staff went up to our farm in Georgia, and there we plan out the activities and the spirit and the vision for the entire year of our staff, with our staff. Part of it was also relationship building, since we are a church that leads by example. We're all about relationships, so it wasn't all work and no play. We decided to go on a field trip and we went to this place called Providence Canyon. It's considered like the Grand Canyon, but it is a many, many, many, many, many version of it. Still, when you go, it's pretty impressive to see all the rock formations in the canyon. So our staff is walking through the canyon, and all of a sudden Armando, Pastor Armando, pulls out his cell phone and he starts going off into the woods with Christopher. And they find and locate this little box that is there at the base of a tree. And I'm like, what in the world are you doing? And Armando says, Well, have you ever heard of geocaching? And I'm like, No. Let me ask you, has any of you heard of geocaching? Yes. Like, not even 2% of us. But this geocaching is a hobby that some of these people enjoy getting involved in, not some of them, but people as those that are here today. They enjoy getting involved in because it's a type of hide-and-seek or treasure hunting that occurs. And what they'll do is they'll download the geocache, G-E-O-C-A-C-H-E, the geocache app, and it shows little treasures in a sense, or boxes that people will put all over the place. And it just so happens that they put one there in the middle of nowhere in Nowheresville, and there they found a geocache box. And what you do is you go up to that box, you open it up. It's kind of like, you know, just everybody's good nature, good-hearted nature. Just go and participate in this thing. And there's a little log that you fill out with your geocache handle, your name. There's a pencil that's inside of it, so you can sign the log. You mark it on your app and you let people know that you found it, so it's definitely there. Inside it could be anything from trinkets to little fun animals or stuffed animals or toys, whatever it is. And usually what you do is you take out one and you put something in in its place in good faith, and you carry that next one to the next geocache stash that you find, and you do the deal, and it's like a worldwide thing that people do as a hobby. And it's not just new. This thing has been going on like since the beginning of the 1900s. Matter of fact, there's even a geocache deal on Mars. They put it up there on the Mars rover so that one day when you get there, you will find a geocache. Well, as interesting as all of that is, and it's a whole phenomenon of people these days that really get into that treasure hunting. I mean, there's there's groups, there's trips that people take. It's really out there, this whole treasure hunting deal. As great as it is to go out and hunt for treasures, there is something in the word of God that is even more powerful to you and more valuable to you than if you went out and found a buried treasure of a million dollars in gold coins. And what is that, you say? What could be more valuable than even riches? Well, according to the Bible, it is wisdom. And Proverbs tells us in chapter 2, verse 4, that we must search for wisdom like it is a hidden treasure. Even in Proverbs 3, verse 13 and 15, it says, Blessed are those who find wisdom, those who gain understanding, for she is more profitable than silver and yields better returns than gold. And ladies, I'm sorry about this, but it says she's even more precious than rubies. And nothing that you desire can be compared to her. The real treasure that we dig for to find out where it is and how it acts and what it looks like and how to have it in our life is wisdom. Because you'll learn as you go through life. It's one thing to live rich in life, it's another thing to live right in life. And it's one thing to make great investments, but it's another thing to have great insights. And there is a difference between someone who knows how to make a living and someone who knows how to have a life that is worth living. And that difference is the geocache, the treasure of wisdom. And throughout the book of Proverbs, Solomon is inviting us all to become treasure hunters, seekers of wisdom. However, we need to know up front that if we are going to seek for this hidden treasure, it's only going to be for the serious, not the curious. So before we go on this search, I want to make sure you understand the place that Solomon would have come from. And that's why we read to you that awful story of events that occurred in 2 Samuel, where David was called out for his sin. You want to talk about a dysfunctional environment of a king to be birthed or a future king to be birthed into? None of these royal programs that are on Netflix or Amazon Prime, none of them can compare to the drama that was taking place into which Solomon was born. Just 24 months before Solomon's birth. He had married this young widow after murdering her husband, or had his murder played out. He married the widow to cover up the fact that she was now carrying his baby. That baby was his, not her husband's. David saw to it then that her husband, Uriah, was killed in battle, and then he had put on the sham of a wedding to Bathsheba, who was already beginning to show. Yet there were insiders that knew the real story of what had occurred. So now Nathan the prophet comes on the scene and he exposes the king and this new bride of his and the evil that they were trying to keep secret. Their baby was then soon delivered, but the baby died. And that in itself was a sign of God's immediate judgment on David and Bathsheba. Now, the good news of all of that is that David did confess his sin to God. And if you read Psalm chapter 51, you really do see and hear this authentic, very open confession and repentance before the Lord. His heart was put out there and he was truly repentant. It seems that Bathsheba had that same posture, and she herself would have confessed her sin before God. Because now the Bible tells us that after that confession and all of that loss of the baby, that there must have been some real connection between David and Bathsheba. As 2 Samuel chapter 12, verse 24 tells us, then David comforted his wife Bathsheba, went into her, made love to her, and she gave birth to a son, and they named him Solomon. Now his name, Solomon, carries some weight. And it tells us some wonderful things about when our past isn't perfect. For instance, David, the Bible says right here, named him his son Solomon. And that name, Solomon, is actually a derivative of the word shalom, which means peace. What we see there is David, excuse me, what we see is David wanting to ensure that the next leadership or season of his own kingdom would be a season of peace. As under his rulership, David was a man of war, and he felt the effects of it, which may have led to this desensitization of his understanding of God and God's principles, and not feeling so convicted about taking Bathsheba, who was not his wife, and even committing murder. Murder was nothing to David. He did it as a warrior king. But he didn't want that passed on to his son Solomon. So he names him Shalom, hoping he could prophesy this young man's future as being a future of peace. Second of all, the Lord, not man, but the Lord gave Solomon the name Jedediah. We see that in 2 Samuel chapter 12, verse 24 and 25. It says that the Lord loved him, speaking of the child. And because the Lord loved him, he sent word through Nathan the prophet to name him Jedediah. Jedediah simply means loved by the Lord. Now many believe that Nathan, who delivered that message right there, was allowed into the life of young Solomon so that Solomon would be reminded regularly that no matter what his past would have brought his way, no matter what he was born into, he would always be loved by the Lord. It shows us the wisdom of godly parenting when we place our children in environments where they are constantly surrounded by people in the children's ministry and in the youth ministry and in our young adult ministry and in the big house ministry, that they are surrounded by people that share their same godly values so that at their age-appropriate behavior level, they are always loved by the Lord. Even though dad and mom may have divorced, even though there may have been abuse that they had seen, even though that they may have experienced death at an early age of a loved one, they would always be reminded that what happened in the past to them would not be their future. Another name that appears in the book of Proverbs, the ladies, you're gonna love this one, especially the moms, is the name Lamuel. Right here we see this name presented in Proverbs chapter 31, which is always a Mother's Day favorite that we share. So get ready next weekend, moms. You're gonna be blessed as being a psalm, excuse me, Proverbs 31 woman. But right here we hear in Psalm Proverbs chapter 31, it begins with this word. This is what King Lamuel's mother taught him. Now, the name Lamuel actually means unto God. This was a name of dedication that was used by Solomon's own mother that she had referred to even as Solomon matured in life. And it's a testimony that Bathsheba had dedicated Solomon unto the Lord. That even though she had a tough upbringing and start, and there was death in her life and the loss of a child which caused her herself a broken heart because of her sin, she wanted to make sure going forward that her heart was pure before God. And any child God would have given her then, maybe even as a second chance or second lease on life, would be a gift that she would say to God, this one would be dedicated unto you. It's evidence of the fact that Solomon's Proverbs repeatedly challenges us to listen to not only to the words of instructions of our father, but the mom's to you as well. And every mother should take heart from Proverbs. You're not left out. In fact, you're instructed towards your children. Your instructions toward your children is given as much weight as the instructions of a father. We read it in Proverbs chapter 1, verses 8 and 9. He says, Listen, my son, to your father's instructions, and do not forsake your mother's teaching. He says again in Proverbs 6, good friend, follow your father's good advice. Don't wander off from your mother's teaching. But instead, wrap yourself in them from head to foot and so on and so forth. He's trying to show us the value, moms, of being the voice of truth that is needed in your children's life. And again, we don't have to get all flipped out and nervous about what others may be trying to pour into our children. But as mom and dad, or the strong mother, or the strong father in the family, if there's no longer a marriage in place, your words of wisdom still carry weight in their life as you are the North Star of direction and provision and destiny. He's trying to say to us, take that advice from your father, but also listen to your mother. That in itself is a beautiful compliment that Solomon gives, not only to his father, but also to his mother Bathsheba. Both are parents with a past. Which brings me to a couple principles just as we talk about his name. For instance, God's grace can be found at work in the present in spite of the past. Solomon proves that even when we have a past, we can still enjoy the grace of God in the present. And he gives us a chance to start fresh and clean and make better choices and decisions going forward. It also shows us that godly parenting can still take place in a home that has an ungodly past. No, it may not have been God's will for the marriage to do what it did. It may not have been God's perfect plan for you to have to go through what you went through in your family. But if you trust in God, your parenting can get and keep that home headed in the right path of God's destiny. So Solomon learns early on that the living God of David and Bathsheba forgives sin and gives a new opportunity in life for him to follow. And it's that spirit that Solomon picked up. The heart now of Solomon is ready for the hunt. And his desire as a young man that is now ready to lead the greatest group of people on the face of the earth is to ask God for wisdom. And this is where then we pick up the other story that we read. In 2 Chronicles chapter 1, verse 6, it says that Solomon went to the bronze altar before the Lord in the tent of meeting, and he offered a thousand burnt offerings on it. Let me tell you, a burnt offering is a major ordeal. Offerings then are not as easy as they are now. If you were to bring an offering to the Lord, it meant some sacrifice. It meant some death. It meant some blood. It meant some gore. And when you read the kind of sacrifices, he wasn't offering chickens, he was offering bulls. And he had to get in the middle of all that blood slinging, of all that mess and all the other things, the excrements, when he offered these offerings to the Lord. And after doing it a thousand times in a matter of days, he's exhausted. And the Bible says in verse 7, that night, while he's sleeping, God appeared to Solomon and said to him, Ask for whatever you want me to give you. And as your coronation gift from me to you, I'll give it to you. So what do you want from me? Wouldn't we all want one of those dreams? Come on, Metro. Wouldn't we love that kind of offer from God? I've had a lot of dreams, good dreams in my life. I haven't ever had. One of those, and if it did happen, man, I'm gonna be pretty moved. I don't know if I'll make it through the night. Mary is up when I get that kind of visitation in my dream. The whole household would be up. I may even call some of you. You're not gonna believe what just happened to me. This is a big deal. Imagine this. Because we're not talking about some pipe dream here. This is for real. Make a wish, Solomon, and I'm gonna grant it to you. Remember that game you were growing up playing when you were growing up, and somebody would tell you, hey, if you can wish for anything, what would you wish for? I was like, I wasn't too smart. But I was smart enough to know that if I had one wish, my wish would be give me a hundred wishes. But that never worked, and neither did the game. That's exactly what 2 Chronicles 7 is doing. He's saying to Solomon, God, ask for whatever you want me to give you. And notice the response in verse 8. He said, You have shown great kindness to David my father, and have made me king in his place. Listen to this kind of response because I don't want you to miss it. Because here, Solomon is not wishing for anything in verse. Instead, he's responding in three ways. The first way, he says, I want to thank you for what you are doing in my life. He's not asking for a thing. And now you have put me right in here. Most people, when they're given a chance to wish for something, they immediately go to something of material wealth. Which shows their answer will either display their contentment in life or their discontentment in life. And if it's for something, then usually it shows they are discontent or unhappy with something that they have right now. But that's not what Solomon did. Solomon sets back and he says, Well, Lord, first I want to thank you for everything that I have. One writer said that contentment is realizing that you are better off the way you are right now. And yet we get so caught up in the advertisement of things that the moment we see it, and I'll tell you, Amazon is the devil. Jeez. It's so easy to get on Amazon and like, how many more bird feeders do we need? But it's so easy to just push and buy and get another one. And then when I get them out there, I realize shucks, every one of these bird feeders needs to be filled with bird feed. And it's not just the birds that want to eat my bird feed, it's the squirrels that want to eat the bird feed. Now I got to figure out a way to keep the squirrels away from the bird feed. And it's not just the squirrels, it's also in our neighborhood the peacocks who like the bird feed. It's like really how many things can we keep asking God for before we realize that let me stop for a minute and say thank you, God, for everything you've already given me. You know, later on in Proverbs, chapter 30, if you were to read there, it seems like Solomon learned a valuable lesson through life that all of us, all who are pursuing wisdom, will have to learn. And the question is that we have to answer how much is enough? Because Solomon says in Proverbs chapter 30, verses 7 through 9, two things I ask of you, O Lord. Give me neither poverty nor riches, but feed me the food that is my portion. What he's actually saying here is, with just enough for the daily portion that I need. Because he goes on to say, otherwise, I may have too much and say, who needs the Lord? I'm not sure when is enough when enough is enough yet in my life. I always want more. And I don't think the drive and the desire for more is necessarily sin. As long as more doesn't become our God. And we have this major discontentment with the life that we live. We're never good looking enough, we're never healthy enough, we're never happy enough in our marriage, we never have enough in our closet, we never have enough in our garage, we never have enough, we never have enough, we never have enough. Hey, I want more, but let me tell you, before I keep wanting and pursuing more, the thing that I want more of it is more God. Because I know it's more God. God brings all that other stuff. We were talking to or listening to a coach the other day. He he's been in the professional range, he has a big Super Bowl ring on his finger. And just on the heels of what's happened Thursday and Friday with the NFL draft going on, where these young studs are gonna come up and they're gonna be given outrageous contracts to play a game like football. He showed us or told us that the average lifespan of an NFL football player is three and a half years. And they get all this money on the front end, and the first thing they do with all their money is start buying because most of them never had anything in their life, and so they go out and they buy a bigger car, they buy a house, not only a house for them, but a house for their mother and maybe a house for their father, and they put themselves out there with all this money, and yet by the time three and a half years in their your career is over, they end up with nothing because no one speaks into their ears. Wisdom says, know your limitations, don't be discontent. Figure out a place where you can monitor your living at the level where it's at, so that there'll be some when the sun sets on your career. Solomon is teaching us something here. He's saying, Listen, before you start asking for more, learn this great lesson of contentment and say, God, thank you for everything you have done for me and truly mean it. Have that kind of attitude. Have the attitude that realizes, man, everything we have comes from Him. Wisdom tells us that. If all the gold and all the silver belongs to the Lord and you and I have any of it, then what does that mean? Who gave it to us? Somebody else answered that. That was a good question. If God owns it all and He gave and you have some, who gave it to you? The Bible says that God owns the cattle on a thousand hills and the hills that the cattle are on. If you have any real estate and it all belongs to the Lord, who and you got some, who gave it to you? If that's the case, I did pretty good picking my wife. And there are a few before her. Let me tell you, only a few. But so I have to say I had some choice in it because some people think, well, God gave me her and she was just for me. No, that's not really true. Please? You can disregard disagree with me. I understand it. But if if there was one person for everybody, then that means over half of the people that thought they had the right one was had the wrong one. Because half of the people are getting divorced today. And even church people are getting divorced. The wrong one. I am really going out of my way here to do what? I don't know. I'm getting lost. So let me get right back in because I'm about to really offend somebody. Here's the point contentment with the wife of your youth. And please, I'm not just talking about money because you know everybody says, Oh, yeah, you're the same guy who tells us how to get more money. Now you're telling us money's bad. Well, money's only bad when it becomes your God. And you can't sit back and say, hey, I've got a I'm pretty good where I'm at right now, and thank you for it. But God, there's still buildings I want to build for the kingdom that I can give towards, and there's still people that need to be fed that I can help toward and bless. If I can help other people, then Lord, you keep bringing it to me, so be it. But Lord, if you turned off the faucet today, I'm still thankful for everything you ever gave me. Contentment. We got to tell you this stuff in wisdom because people aren't telling us that on social media. They're not telling us that in Hollywood. It's only after they've blown the marriage, only after they've blown their career, only after they've blown their life that we see the sad story at the end of the movie that then we sit back and think, oh, that was just so sad, so wrong. It wasn't wisdom. Second of all, when you listen to his response, he gives the credit to God for who he is. Verse 9. Now, Lord God, let your promise to my David be con to my father David be confirmed, for you have made me king. Now he's saying not only what I've been given, but where I've been placed, it's all because of you. So just those two responses teaches us this. Gratitude and humility are in the treasure chest where wisdom is kept. Gratitude and humility are in the treasure chest where wisdom is kept. Now, thirdly, this is the big deal for us. Thirdly, verse 10, we see Solomon giving his wish list to the Lord. And he says, Give me wisdom and knowledge that I may lead this people. For who is able to govern this great people of yours? That word great right there, and who can rule this great people can be rendered as heavy. Meaning, then who can govern this heavy people of yours? See, Solomon right now wants us to learn a valuable lesson about everything we've been asked to do in life. Can you let me unfold this thing like it needs to be unfolded? But here's what I want you to learn. Wisdom only comes to those who need it. Meaning, wisdom are for those who are carrying the heavy assignment from heaven that is so much bigger than you on your own are capable of carrying. You don't need wisdom for some things in life. It's called an education. An education will get you a career. It'll help you make a living. But to have a life worth living for, you're gonna have to step out and do things that on your own are humanly impossible. Which requires wisdom. He's saying, Lord, give me wisdom that I may lead these people of yourself. Because that's a heavy duty assignment. Have any of you ever felt like you were weighing in over your head? I don't know how to do this, God. I don't know how to be a good husband. I didn't have a good role. I don't know how to be a loving wife. I didn't see that. I don't know how to be a bajillionaire. I never saw that kind of money. I never saw how to preach. I never saw how to love. I never saw how to forgive. I never saw how not to respond when someone smacks me on one side of my face. And my natural instinct is to retaliate. I don't know how not to bow up when threatened. I don't know how not to be angry. I don't know how not to feel abused. I don't know how to not to feel victimized. I don't know how to engage with that people group over there that are more successful than my peers. I don't know how. And it says of you, if you lack wisdom, then you should ask God for it because He will give it to you generously. I said it from the beginning. This is only a series that's going to appeal to the serious, not the curious. Only those that really want to put the pedal to the metal and really go somewhere with your life to live a life worth living. And I'm I'm a real principle kind of person. I like principles, which makes me very unfun. I'm not as fun as a person that just kind of throws caution to the wind. Let's just go. No, the moment we're about to throw, I'm feeling the wind. Okay. What what what way is the wind blowing? No, don't do it yet. No, no, it's not the perfect time. You just took all the fun out of the moment, Steve. I know, but we don't want to get hurt. We want to know it's to have fun. Jump in the pool. Let's go. No, I'm always testing the environment because I like principles. And that may not play out at your party when I'm there. But when you're here, I promise you, if you will lock into what we do in this church for the next four months, May, June, July, and August. You lock into what we're doing this summer on the keys to living the good life. Okay? The guide to living the good life. If you lock in, don't get slack. Go on your vacations, great. But when you're in town, you get to the house or you dial in and watch this online. Even if you're on vacation, don't do it on vacation. Enjoy your family. You can always pick it up later. I gave you permission to not dial in on Sunday if you're on vacation. But pick it up. Because if you will help go with me to walk through these principles that we find in the book of Proverbs, I promise you I can stake my life on it. That the life that you'll live at the end of 21 and then 22 and 23 and 24 and 25 will be a life that is so much more enjoyable, so much more rewarding, so much more fulfilling than any vacation will ever give you in the long run. So I bring this to a close this way. Solomon at his best records and composes over three thousand proverbs when he's at his best. But almost as though his last will and testament over in Ecclesiastes are things that he has learned because when he was at his worst, his life went upon. So he gives us two principles that I close with. Get this, and you'll love me in 2025 more than you do right now. First, wisdom is not for those who want it, it's for those who can't live without it. Second of all, wisdom is not for those who are willing to hear about it. It's for those that walk out these doors and practice it. I read this little phrase, this little story, it's beautiful. It was late one evening and the entire royal household was already asleep deep inside the walls of Buckingham Palace. The year was 1837. Great Britain's Lord Chamberlain, an officer who was considered the senior official of the royal household, made his way to the bedroom of an 18-year-old girl named Victoria. He awakened her and told her, as she rubbed her eyes and yawned a wig, that her uncle had just died, and that she was now the queen of Great Britain, the empire upon which the sun never set. Then he opened the Bible he was carrying, and as she sat on the bed, read the account we had just read to you of Solomon's rise to the throne and of Israel. And then he demonstrated that Solomon asked God for wisdom above everything. That young, precious Victoria, who was their greatest royalty to ever sit upon the throne, responded to that by saying, If I am to be queen, then I shall be good. That precious woman went on to be their greatest queen. It was the greatest days under her that Britain ever saw. And it was because this young woman learned at an early age how to govern by morals and spiritual directives that she had found in the Bible. She herself had a life that was committed to Jesus Christ. That's why on her precious little mausoleum, you would read the words that say, I shall rise with Christ at the resurrection. In the same way, Israel will see its finest days because it had a king who made a wish and began a quest for a hidden treasure. And he says to us today in Proverbs chapter 2, which, if you have not been reading with us through the book of Proverbs every month, start in chapter 2 today. And if you read it again and again and again and again and again, that's great. You need to. Repetition is the key to learning. Ask every teacher, every educator. Hear it over and over again until you get so tired of hearing it, it then becomes real to you. Five minutes on your wisdom muscle every day will make a difference for eternity. But he says, indeed, if you call out for insight and cry it aloud for understanding, and if you look for it as silver and search for it as hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. For the Lord gives wisdom, from his mouth comes knowledge and understanding.

In Jesus' name, God bless you, thanks for listening to the Family Business Podcast with the Alessis. We appreciate you listening and learning with us as we just shared more about the family business. You know, I bet there's someone you know who could use this kind of advice, encouragement. So make sure to share this episode with them and their family because let's face it, family is everyone's business. If you want to be a part of our family, subscribe to the show right now on your favorite app and make sure to download the episode so you can hear them at any time. Oh, and one more thing one of the best ways to help us spread the word about the family business with the Alesssies is by reviewing the show on Apple Podcasts or your favorite app. So help us out, write a review, and join us next time at the Family Business Podcast with the Alesssies.