Keion Henderson - The Mute Challenge

Today’s subject is the Mute Challenge. Talking about the Mute Challenge, you may be seated in the presence of the Lord. All right, one of the most amazing events in the whole Bible, in my opinion—everybody has their own—is when the Lord told Solomon, «Ask for whatever you want.» Here’s what’s amazing: all of our campus pastors come together over the weekend, and we talk about our scriptures. Pastor Rama texted me and said, «Pastor, this is crazy because you and I have the same scripture,» and the name of his subject is «This Is a Blank Check.» Same scripture, two totally different perspectives.

God says to him, «Solomon, ask for whatever you want.» This man says, «I can have anything?» God says, «Anything you want.» He replies, «Okay, you really mean anything?» God affirms, «I mean anything you want.» Guess what he asks for? Wisdom and knowledge. Now, let’s pause here for a second. God comes to you in your house and says, «Jacqueline, you can ask for anything you want.» What are you asking for? God, anything? Okay, I want some Louis Vuitton. I want a Hermes bag. Brothers, what do you want? «Lord, I want an Escalade, dog. I want a house and a Rottweiler.» Dudes always gotta have a dog, not knowing anything about dogs—just wanting one.

You see, I don’t know if there’s anybody in this room, and I’m not saying there isn’t; I just don’t know if there’s anyone in this room who, if God said to ask for what you want, would say, «Lord, I just want a little more wisdom and knowledge.» I know some of y’all would be like, «God, can you take care of Tasha? She’s getting on my nerves.» You’d start naming people, things, and places. But the man asks for wisdom and knowledge. Now, here’s the amazing thing about it: at the time God asked him, he was 20 years old. See, this is the thing that blows people’s minds because we think of monarchy and kings as older individuals. In the times of scripture, there were pharaohs who were 14, 19, or 20 years old.

The Lord asked him what he wanted, and he had enough wisdom at 19 or 20 years old to say he wanted wisdom and knowledge. That lets me know that wisdom isn’t a function of age; it’s a function of decision. You can be a 65-year-old fool and you can be a 20-year-old wise person. You are not wise because of how long you have lived; you are wise based on how you lived those years. I say it this way: people often tell you, «I’ve got 20 years of experience.» Well, there’s a difference between having 20 years of experience and one year of experience repeated 20 times. At 20 years old, when all of his friends were wearing Jordans, when they were driving Ferraris, Solomon said, «Give me wisdom and knowledge.»

Old fools used to be young fools, and I think we live in a society where everyone is trying to be so smart. Have you ever seen someone make a post online, and then the next 20 comments are from some smart person who debunks the thought that they didn’t even have enough creativity to come up with? Everybody’s so smart these days, but the world is going to hell in a handbasket because we have a lot of geniuses but no wisdom. Wisdom is not knowledge; wisdom is the correct usage of knowledge. Do you know you can have two degrees and not be wise?

Some of you are sitting next to people; they are triple-degreed, they graduated summa cum laude, while some of y’all graduated barely. How many of y’all don’t look at your neighbor and say, «I am not a super intellectual.» Just let them know right now. I mean, I got Cs and skipped all the way home with a smile on my face because I thought I deserved an F. Come on, holler, let your boy know if anybody in here just made it over by the grace of the Lord. When I graduated, I was looking at all those people with the hoods on; I graduated with a tassel and a robe, that’s all I had. No extra garments or anything.

Wisdom—this is the year of wealth and wisdom. The Bible says that the king went to sacrifice at a place called Gibeon. When we read the text, the Bible says that Gibeon was called the high place. So, I went back and studied and wondered, why was Gibeon called the high place? The reason why Gibeon was called the high place, listen, is because it is the location of the Tabernacle. This is the place where the tent resided with all the vessels and the furniture that represented the presence of God. Remember the Ark of the Covenant? The Ark of the Covenant was the piece of furniture that was inlaid and outlaid with gold and acacia wood, and inside of it, it had its contents: the manna that didn’t spoil, Aaron’s rod, and the two tablets of the law given to Moses. This represented the presence of God, and it sat in the Holy of Holies. The Holy of Holies in the Tabernacle was the back portion of the temple, a tabernacle where nobody was allowed.