Ch4: Episode 3: The Queen of Sheba: A Quest for Divine Wisdom

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Welcome back to the Diary of a Black Woman podcast.

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I'm your host Connie Morris, and today we are in episode 3, Queen of Sheba.

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And we will explore the story of Queen of Sheba from 2 Chronicles 9, verses 1-12.

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This episode highlights the pursuit of wisdom and the recognition of divine truth.

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So if you are available and you have your Bible, so let's find Second Chronicles chapter nine.

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I'm using the NIV translation. You can use your favorite translation and we'll

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see the story of Queen Latifah.

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I don't know, I was thinking of Queen Latifah. Queen Latifah ain't got nothing on Queen of Sheba.

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Queen of Sheba. We still are in Chapter 4, What's in Your Hands?

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From the Simple to the Supernatural.

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I'm giving you time to find 2 Chronicles 9.

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Verses 1 through 12. Let's see what Queen of Sheba has in her hands.

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Verse 1. When the Queen of Sheba heard of Solomon's fame, she came to Jerusalem

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to test him with hard questions.

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Arriving with a very great caravan with camels carrying spices,

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large quantities of gold, and precious stones.

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She came to Solomon and talked with him about all she had on her mind.

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Solomon answered all her questions. Nothing was too hard for him to explain to her.

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When the queen of Sheba saw the wisdom of Solomon, as well as the palace he

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had built, the food on his table,

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the seating of his officials, the attending servants in their robes,

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the cupbearers in their robes, and the burnt offerings he made at the temple

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of the Lord, she was overwhelmed.

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Verse 5. She said to the king.

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How happy your officials, who continually stand before you and hear your wisdom.

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Praise be to the Lord your God who has delighted in you and placed you on his

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throne as king to rule for the Lord your God.

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Because of the love of your God for Israel and his desire to uphold them forever,

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he has made you king over them to maintain justice and righteousness.

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She gave the king 120 talons of gold, large quantities of spices, and precious stones.

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There had never been such spices as those the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.

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The servant of Hiram and the servant of Solomon brought gold from Ophir.

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They also brought algonwood and precious stones.

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The king used the algonwood to make steps for the temple of the Lord and for

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the royal palace, and to make harps and lyres for the musicians.

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Nothing like them had ever been seen in Judah. King Solomon gave the queen of

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Sheba all she desired and asked for.

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She gave her more than she had brought to him.

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Then she left and returned to her own country.

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What a meeting that was. She had a meeting and had all her questions answered.

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Jesus referred to Queen of Sheba who traveled to the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon.

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Her journey signified a profound quest for truth and understanding.

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In Matthew 12, 42, that's where Jesus referred to the Queen of Sheba as the

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Queen of South. And then it says.

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42 to see what Jesus said. about the queen of the south. I'm quoting Jesus,

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and we need to see what Jesus says.

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Matthew 12, 42.

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All righty, I'm looking it up, 42.

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It says, the queen of the south will rise at the judgment with this generation and condemned it,

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for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to Solomon's wisdom,

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And now something greater than Solomon is here That something greater is who?

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Is Jesus So we need to rise and listen to the wisdom of Jesus What's the historical

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content of the story of the Queen of Sheba? The Queen of Sheba.

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Also known as the Queen of the South, which is in Matthew 12,

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42, was a powerful and wealthy monarch who ruled the kingdom of Sheba.

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Come on now, the Queen of Sheba, the kingdom of Sheba, likely located in modern-day Yemen or Ethiopia.

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So that tells me that she was a woman of color.

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Her visit to Solomon is recorded in 1 Kings 10, chapter 10, verses 1-13,

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and we read in 2 Chronicles 9, verses 1-12, and also in Matthew 12.

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Verses 1-42.

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She came to test Solomon with hard questions and was impressed by his wisdom,

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wealth, and splendor of his kingdom.

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So she came in there. She said she heard some stuff, but when she saw it, she was more amazed.

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Not amazed, but overwhelmed at how his house, the food,

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his servants, his cupbearers, what they were wearing, how they were,

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what they were wearing, how they just, what they, while they performed in front of the king.

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Everything was just immaculate.

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Just how it should be at the house of God, right? Everything should be in order.

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Everyone should be doing their part. People should come to your place of worship

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or to your house or to wherever you live, even in your office. Simple things.

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They should say, wow, this is where the presence of the Lord is.

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And then it says the queen, what does she give, though? What does she have in

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her hand? She didn't give no light whatsoever.

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She didn't come with a couple bars of gold. She came with 120 talents.

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So she came with a caravan of gifts to give to Solomon for the wisdom of God through Solomon.

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And we have access to the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.

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And she asked for 10% in offerings.

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Let's move on. The queen's journey was significant because it demonstrates her

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desire for wisdom and understanding, transcending her own royal status and wealth.

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Come on now. She was the queen and she went to the king with all she had in

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her hands to get the wisdom of God.

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Her willingness to travel great distances

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to seek Solomon's wisdom highlights the value

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she placed on divine insights and

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knowledge her stuff didn't her

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stuff can buy her divine wisdom and

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insight her stuff her goal

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her talents all her special things that

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she had was not enough to satisfy her So she packed it all up Not all of it

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I bet But most of it To come to give it as an offering To Jesus through Solomon

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And to ask the hard questions about The Lord, his God,

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Sometimes it's just not enough To have all the stuff Sometimes you just need

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Jesus Sometimes you just need Jesus.

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Sometimes you just need Jesus Solomon known

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for his God-given wisdom was sought

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after by many for his counsel and judgment his

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wisdom was a testament to God's blessing and favor upon him as king the interaction

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between Solomon and queen of the queen of Sheba illustrates the far-reaching

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impact of God's wisdom bestowed upon his chosen leaders,

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that his name went around the world.

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Remember, well, we have to go there. Solomon prayed and that he wanted wisdom

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and God gave him wisdom that reached around the world.

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So far, they reached to this queen of Sheba who said she came from Yemen or Ethiopia. Right.

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Traveled a long ways and probably as he was traveling, writing down questions.

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So when she got before the presence of the king, presence of the king,

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that she was ready to ask the hard questions.

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I think I mentioned that on the podcast that when we get before the king,

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Jesus, that we should have a Q&A book that we can spend some Q&A time with the

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Lord to gather some wisdom, some knowledge, some understanding.

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So we can be able to follow his instructions precisely, right?

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So that we can walk in his wisdom, so that we can have the simple to the supernatural.

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I wonder what her life was like afterwards, after she gave what she had in her hands.

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I wonder how God blessed this queen, because she did not give out no chump change.

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She gave it all so

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much so that it went to build the temple

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for the Lord So let's

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talk about the queen's pursuit of wisdom and

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her emotional state and intellectual state The Queen of Sheba pursuit of wisdom

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reflects a deep intellectual curiosity and a desire to gain understanding beyond

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her own knowledge and experience.

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Remember she was a queen so she could have

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gathered she could have sent her her crew or boys they led her team ahead to

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say you know can we send my top 10 over here to Solomon's house go check him

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out take these lists of questions with you and ask him and then bring it back no No, no, no,

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no, no. She went on her own.

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She probably handpicked what was going to go in that basket,

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in that caravan over there on that trip.

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And she rolled over there and spent time in his presence.

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Oh, that's good. In the king's presence to get direct answers from the king.

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Oh, how many times do we spend time before the king? and get direct answers from our King Jesus.

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Mm. He said, she said that pursuit of wisdom reflected deep intellectual curse.

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She wanted to know, she didn't know Jesus apparently, but she got to know so much.

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So that think about it, that Jesus mentions her.

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So apparently she got to know Jesus.

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Oh, she got to know Jesus through Solomon's life. Do people get to know Jesus through your life?

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What are people saying about you?

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We're still talking about what do we have in our hands from the simple to the supernatural.

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Do you represent Jesus with your life?

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Can Jesus bless you? Can he trust you?

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The queen of Sheba quest for wisdom

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led her to recognize and honor

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the divine source of Solomon's insight

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she acknowledged her she acknowledged the greatness of Solomon's God oh and

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brought lavish gifts as a sign of respect and admiration do people honor your

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God through you by what you

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say, what you do, how you live your life.

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Now, this is not a bit of criticism. It's just kind of a thought that I'm having

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out loud. Remember, it comes to the preacher first.

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Remember, Jesus mentions Queen of Sheba. Is Jesus mentioning your name in heaven?

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Her quest for wisdom led her to recognize and honor the divine source of Solomon.

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Women, what are we doing to honor God so that God can mention our name?

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Are they coming to us for the wisdom of Jesus?

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Are we leading them to Jesus or does our life lead them away from Jesus?

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Do they frown at our Jesus? Do they mock our Jesus because of our lie?

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Do they laugh in our face because of Jesus, because of the way that we live.

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Jesus refers to the Queen of Sheba to emphasize the importance of seeking and valuing divine wisdom.

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Her action serves as a contrast to those who dismiss his teaching.

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The Bible tells us that if we ask for wisdom, that he would give it to us liberally.

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I mean, he would give us so much wisdom that we would not be able to do it.

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We can have it. Just like the, and it's like we can ask for it and we will get it.

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This queen of Sheba traveled many miles from Yemen or Ethiopia to Israel.

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Seems like not that far away these days that we can catch a flight.

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But she had a caravan. She had a crew.

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And she didn't just stay there one day. I don't know. I'm probably doing a little research now.

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I wonder how long she stayed over at Solomon's Castle. Her actions serve as

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a contrast to those who dismiss his teaching or mock Jesus or mock your Lord

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or laugh at you because you still believe in the God.

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This story encourages us to seek God's wisdom earnestly, recognizing that proper

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understanding comes from him.

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So this really encourages me that, you know, how much, how bad do you want it?

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This lady, the queen, the queen, the queen came from a distance to seek what

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she heard about Solomon.

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Now, she's a queen and she could, like I said, she could have sent her crew to go check it out.

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But no, she came in person. And then one translation said that when she saw

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how Solomon lived, that she fainted.

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It was that that she fainted.

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So let's talk about the gifts she gave. The gifts brought by the Queen of Sheba

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symbolize honor, respect, and the recognition of Solomon's divine wisdom.

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They also reflect her gratitude for the insights she gained.

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So she gave what it was worth.

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She said, I'm not going to just bring no chump change. Load this up, folks.

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It probably took a couple of days. Wait a minute. We got to bring that.

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Just empty out this. Bring everything that we need to do to get the divine wisdom

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from Solomon, from his God.

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Because God has really blessed him.

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Because some things you can't buy with money.

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How many of you know that? Some things you can't buy with money.

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And you can't buy divine wisdom that only comes from above with money.

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You can't buy favor that only comes from above with money.

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Another one that we take another example in the Bible. Remember the Magi that brought gifts to Jesus?

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Those gifts that they brought, and they always have the three little gifts.

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They brought many more gifts than that. And those gifts reflected that same

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honor and recognition of divine significance.

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Both instances showed how seeking and acknowledging divine wisdom leads to an

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act of reverence and worship.

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So powerful. It's what we give to God and what it means from us.

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You know, that trip that she made, I wonder what she was thinking when she was writing.

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You know, she made a special effort. effort to go.

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It's like making a special effort to go to church. People don't seem to go to church anymore.

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They watch it from their phone, from their iPad.

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Nothing wrong with watching it from your phone or your iPad,

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but it does take a special effort to get out of your house, to get in your car,

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to go sit in a church service, to worship God in the sanctuary.

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Yeah. So it does take a special effort. And there's something that happens in the sanctuary.

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You know, something happens where God shows up in the sanctuary.

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He shows up on, you know, online too.

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So I'm not the one to say that's not right, but something special happens,

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happened when Queen of Sheba took that special effort to get to Solomon's wisdom.

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You know, You know, just something special happens when you make that special

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effort. Let's talk about faith and obedience.

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The Queen of Sheba willingly, willingness to seek Solomon's wisdom,

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despite the challenges of her journey, reflects her faith in the value of divine insight.

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So let's just say that, you know, back in the biblical days,

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She's riding down the road with all that money.

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I mean, it's like she did a bank transfer, you know, where none of the money,

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you know, you can do a bank transfer, write a check or something.

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No, she had that in cash money, just traveling down the road,

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miles and miles down the road to give it to him in billions of gold,

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you know, valuable and precious stones.

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Risking her life, risking her cruel life for this divine insight.

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You don't think God blessed her?

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The Bible constantly encourages the pursuit of wisdom, promising that those who seek it will find it.

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James, we talk about that. Let's look it up in Proverbs.

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Proverbs 2, 1-6. Let's look that up. We're talking a lot about it.

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Let's see what we get when we seek wisdom.

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Proverbs 2, 1-6.

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Yeah, I'm going to still stay in the NIV. I'm just going to read it.

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It says, The Moral Benefits of Wisdom is the title.

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It says, My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you,

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turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding.

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Indeed, if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding,

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and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as a hidden treasure,

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Then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. Wow.

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For the Lord gives wisdom. From his mouth comes knowledge and understanding. That's powerful.

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You get the fear of the Lord and find knowledge of God. For the Lord gives wisdom.

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From his mouth comes understanding.

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That's the power of wisdom. The

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Queen's story illustrates the reward of diligently seeking God's wisdom.

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I'm going to give those verses again in case I said them too fast.

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James 1.5 and Proverbs 2.1-6.

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1-6 has a lot of commas, so it reads as one verse, chapter 1-6.

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So enjoy that. take it from memory because wisdom gives you knowledge and understanding.

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How do we apply what we just heard?

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From the Queen of Sheba into our practical application for life.

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Number one, reflect on your resources. Take a moment to assess what you have,

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skills, talents, time, or even your financial resources.

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Nothing is too small for God to use.

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So it says, each of you use whatever gift you have received to serve others

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as faithful stewards of God's grace.

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So use what you have to serve others.

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God gave it for you to use to serve others. Whatever that is,

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don't keep it to yourself.

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Skills, talents, and time, and even your financial resources.

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We see that the Queen of Sheba used her financial resources to help build the

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kingdom, help build the temple of the Lord.

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Act in faith like the Queen of Sheba. He's to step out in faith with what you have.

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Trust God can multiply your humble offerings beyond your imaginations.

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Wow. So trust that God can use whatever you have.

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And once again, now faith is a confidence in what we hope for and assurance

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in what we can't not see. Let's continue.

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Obedience brings blessings. The queen followed her desire for wisdom,

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leading her to great understanding and acknowledging of God's greatness.

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And once again, we learn in 1 Samuel 15, 22, that to obey is better than sacrifice.

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So I just always kind of wonder, like what...

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Like Queen of Sheba is on one side of the world. Solomon is on the other side of the world.

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There wasn't like cell phones. There wasn't TVs. I mean, how did she find out about Solomon?

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You know, and then that was a great, great.

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She said, I want to go talk to the Solomon guy and began to write down questions.

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Was it the God? Was that a God factor that was involved? Bob.

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Let's not forget because she is in the Bible.

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What happened if she didn't go?

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She would never have been mentioned in the Bible. So I think there was some

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type of divine intervention going on here.

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And the final one, not the final one, but close to it, expect miracles.

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Anticipate that God will show up in a miraculous way when you act in faith.

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The Queen's journey brought her wisdom and understanding beyond her expectation.

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Of course, God's going to do more than we can even ask, think, or imagine.

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But I know that she, I don't think she expected that.

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She just said, I'm going to pay for this wisdom. And she just paid what she thought it was worth.

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But because of that effort she put in, I'm quite sure that God kind of gave her more.

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Gave her more because she's mentioned in the Bible. And we're talking about her today.

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One thing that she didn't do, according to Proverbs 3, 5, 6,

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we know that trust in the Lord with your own heart and lean not to your own understanding.

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We know that she did not lean to her own understanding. You ever did something,

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you just said, I'm just going to do it. I don't care.

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I'm just going to do it. And you just go do it. If I think about it,

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I'm not going to do it. You ever did something like that?

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If I think about how it's going to get done, I'm not going to get it done.

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And that's kind of the way you don't do things blindly or do it kind of stupidly.

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But sometimes you know you

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got to do it whether I can't start thinking about it

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otherwise I won't do it I think that's what she did she said

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let's just go just pile up what we need

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to do I think we're going to give him about a million something dollars or maybe

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more maybe a billion a trillion dollars we're going to give him half the of

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the kingdom and then we're going to go don't talk to me about it and then I

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while you're putting it in there I'm writing down some questions because we're

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going to get some Jesus on our way. This is the plan.

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And we know faith without works is dead. So we need to find out. We need to believe God.

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There's something, maybe she had a Bible, a part of a Bible. I don't know.

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It kind of makes you want to wonder what makes a queen go bow to another king

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in another part of the land and take half the kingdom on a really dangerous

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journey for divine wisdom.

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And some people who are, the church is right down the street,

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a couple of miles away, they can't even get up to go to church.

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I don't know.

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How bad do you want it? So I just encourage you to seek God's wisdom and just

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challenge yourself to do that thing you

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don't want to do so that you can, so God can do that thing that he wants to

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do in your life so that you can receive the unexpected blessings in your life.

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So let's do this decrees. I know that was kind of serious.

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I was a little harsh on some folks. I don't know, but God is calling us out.

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God wants to show up and show out in our lives. He wants us.

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He wants to take that simple to the supernatural. He wants to do the miraculous

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in our life for the believers.

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He wants to show off for the unbelievers. Remember, his heart is for everyone.

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His heart is for everyone.

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Remember, God will not be mocked.

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God will not be mocked. He will not be mocked. And he will have the final say.

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He will have the final say. So let's get the decrees in.

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Let's get our hearts stirred up so that God can do that thing.

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So that we can pack up our little stuff and just go and get some divine help.

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We can ask for some divine wisdom. and let's follow that divine wisdom and let's

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do what God has for us to do.

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Let's go. Repeat after me. I decree that my pursuit of wisdom and understanding,

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is an offering pleasing to God.

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I decree that I will seek God's truth and wisdom, knowing it holds more significant

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value than earthly treasures.

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I decree that my faith and obedience will unlock God's supernatural provisions.

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I decree that I will expect and receive God's miraculous intervention in my life.

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Powerful day. Wow. Powerful, powerful. Thank you for joining me today.

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Sorry if I stepped on some toes, but then I'm not so sorry.

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God wants to move in your life and he's using me to do it.

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Can't wait to hear just some great stories, some great miracles.

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Oh, I'm just so excited. So as we reflect on the Queen of Sheba's quest for

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wisdom, let us be inspired to seek God's truth in all we do.

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So join us next time. Join us. It's just me.

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Join me next time as we delve into the story of the widow of Zarephath.

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Stay blessed. Stay believing in the supernatural and expect miracles.

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What do you have in your hands?

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Activated this week. This is Connie Morris on Diary of the Black Woman podcast. Until next time.