Podcasts about barzillai

July 5, 2026 - Sunday AM Sermon   In this episode a preacher draws practical lessons on Christian service from the largely overlooked Old Testament figure Barzillai, weaving his story (2 Samuel 17, 19; 1 Kings 2) together with New Testament teaching from Jesus (John 13; Matthew 20, Matthew's sheep-and-goats parable; John 6; John 4; Matthew 11; Luke 9). The sermon explores how Barzillai's example models compassion for the hungry, thirsty, weary, and fleeing, and connects that literal giving to meeting spiritual needs as disciples of Christ. Listeners will hear short readings and participation from the congregation. Neal references personal ministry memories and older servants in the church as illustrations of faithful, long-term service, and discusses how service should continue into the golden years without spiritual retirement. Key takeaways are presented as five practical principles: give what you have to meet physical and spiritual needs; give as long as you are able; give without expectation of earthly reward or recognition; use your resources and influence to give others opportunities to serve and grow; and respond when people need help. The sermon emphasizes humility, sacrificial discipleship, and the call to ‘‘give yourself'' to Christ (Luke 9:23, Galatians 2:20). The episode closes with an invitation to respond in faith—whether to commit to Christ, to rededicate one's life, or to begin serving in practical ways—and an encouragement to move from receiving worship to active service in daily life.   Handout: GIVING LIKE A GILEADITE — Neal Pollard Introduction A. Everything We Know About _______________________ Is _______________________ B. To Give Like Him... I. GIVE WHAT YOU __________________ FOR THE __________________ (2 Sam. 17:27-29) II. GIVE WHAT YOU __________ UNTIL YOU ___________ GIVE ________ (2 Sam. 19:32-35) III. GIVE WITHOUT _______________________ OF ______________________ (2 Sam. 19:36) IV. GIVE _______________________ AN ____________________________ (2 Sam. 19:37-39) V. GIVE WHEN ______________________ NEED YOUR ___________________ (1 Kings 2:7) Conclusion A. His Name Means "Of ______________________________" B. We Enter To ________________________, But We Leave To ________________________   Duration 26:25

✡️ Become a member of the Land of Israel Fellowship and study the Bible with us live each week from the hills of Judea as we explore God's Word together and strengthen our connection to Israel.

I. Barzillai's Confession II. Its Passionate Witness III. The King's Kiss

When David found himself weary and running for his life, Barzillai set a table.Not a small gesture, but an extravagant one. He showed kindness for a king who had nothing to offer in return.Scandalous hospitality meets people at their worst moment and gives more than they deserve. It refuses to let a difficult season become the final chapter of someone's story.The table Barzillai set in the wilderness became a legacy that outlived him. And it reminds us that sometimes the most powerful thing we can offer is simple, undeserved grace.

Group Guide Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week. 2 Samuel 21 Chet Phillips Download TranscriptGood morning. My name is Chet. I'm one of the pastors here. If you will grab a Bible and go to 2 Samuel, chapter 21. We've been working our way through 1 and 2 Samuel and we have reached what commentators call the epilogue of 2 Samuel that the main story has ended.And in the final four chapters, we're going to be in chapter 21. In the final four chapters, we're going to have six pictures that are kind of closing pictures on the kingship of David. And they are not in chronological order. They are in a thematic order. And they're meant to kind of sum up the picture of David for us.The actual story of David's death and Solomon becoming king, that doesn't happen until 1 Kings. You got to work all the way through into 1 Kings for that to kind of to pick up there. So, what this is is almost like the movie's ended, the end credits are rolling, and then it's cutting to different scenes or showing you different pictures of things to try to kind of give you the last picture that it wants you to have of King David. And so, we're going to see two of those pictures today. Now, I heard one pastor put it this way in regards to this text.It's not difficult to understand, but there are aspects of it that are difficult to accept. And so, we're going to go through this text that has some difficulties in it for us. Our hope is to understand why it's here. What was the author trying to tell the people in the original the original hearers? What how would they have understood this?What are we trying to see about David? And then as from our standpoint, what should we do with a text like this? And how do we understand this kind of text? And so hopefully we'll be edified by it, pointed towards Jesus in it. But let's pray and then we'll jump in.Lord, we ask for your mercy. We ask for your grace. and we ask that we would honor you well in the reading and the studying of your word and in submission to it. May your spirit be at work and help us to love Jesus more in Jesus name. Amen.Chapter 21 verse one. Now there was a famine in the days of David for three years year after year and David sought the face of the Lord. Okay, so famine in this region is not uncommon, but three years of it is is getting bad. And we're told that David starts asking the Lord. We don't know exactly when he began, but he's seeking the Lord to understand what's going on here. it's starting to seem like one of the covenantal curses, which is in the in Deuteronomy and Leviticus, if they don't follow the law, it says that your your crops won't yield their fruit.You you will find that your trees don't produce. And so he's starting to go and ask the Lord, is something going on? What's happening here? And this is what happened. Says David sought the face of the Lord.And the Lord said, there is blood guilt on Saul and on his house because he put the Gibeonites to death. So the king called the Gibeonites and spoke to them. Now the Gibeonites were not of the people of Israel, but of the remnant of the Amorites. Although the people of Israel had sworn to spare them, Saul sought to strike them down in his zeal for the people of Israel and Judah. Now, there are several things we need to consider that are going on right here in this text.One is Saul was the original king. Saul is not king anymore. Saul is dead. But there is guilt on Saul, on Saul's house. This blood guilt on Saul. in Saul's house for something that Saul did and the entire nation is paying for it.There's a famine in the land because of blood guilt. Now, blood guilt is a specific thing in the law that is the shedding of innocent blood. And so, there's blood guilt because Saul led the people to attack the Gibeonites. And it says they weren't the Gibeonites aren't the people of Israel, but the people of Israel had promised to protect them. Now, that going to take a little history lesson.That happens in Joshua chapter 9. So, Joshua is sent in with the people of Israel to take over the land. They're they're marching through. They're supposed to get rid of all the Amorites. Well, the Amorites who live in Gibby find out that they're coming and they think this isn't going to go well.So, they come up with a trick to make it seem like they're from another place. They show up. They meet with the people of Israel and they make a covenant with them. People of Israel shouldn't have made this covenant. They should have consulted the Lord, but they make it.When they find out they've been tricked and that the Gibeonites aren't from a far land, but they're from right here and they're a part of the people group they're supposed to get rid of, the people of Israel are like,"Let's kill them."And Joshua and the elders say,"We can't. We promised that we wouldn't. We co we signed the Lord up in covenant with them that we would not kill them."So we we can't. Then we would make it seem like God is a liar and he is not. And so we have to keep this promise.Well, Saul in his zeal not for the Lord, but for the people of Israel and Judah. So, he's running around going,"Israel, Israel, Judah, Judah, Judah, oi, oi, oi."Stuff like that. He's super zealous for his people. He decides the Gibeonites, who've been here forever, who are a subjugated people, we're just going to kill all of them. And so, this would have been a massacre.These people would not have been, they were surrounded by the people of Israel. They were servants to the people of Israel. they would not have been in a position to defend themselves. And he just starts killing them. That story, this is all we get of that story. There's no place that tells us that anywhere else in the text.And so David says,"Why is there a famine?"And God says,"Saul broke a 400year-old covenant that he was supposed to keep."So there's a couple of things. One is God expects you to keep your promises. We ought to be people who keep our promises. Now, if you want to not make a lot of promises, that's fine. Like, if if today you came over to me and said,"Why haven't you given me $5?You've sinned against me."I might would argue,"No, I haven't. That's not like a thing I have to do. I have not sinned against you."But if I had promised to give you $5 and then didn't give it to you, have I sinned against you? Yes. And have I sinned against the Lord?Yes. So somehow in our agreement, the Lord gets involved. He binds covenants together. Now they specifically had done it in the name of the Lord. But even as we make agreements with one another, we can still sin against God by being the type of people who don't keep up with our end of the agreement.And we'll say things like,"Yeah, but we made that deal like 10 years ago."This was 400 years old, and Saul was meant to keep it.Here's the other thing that's happening in this text. Saul was the representative head for the people of Israel. So as king, he can sin on their behalf and lead them all into sin. He's the representative head of the people of Israel of his family. And so he sins and it spreads.The consequences spread. And David as the representative head of the people of Israel now is going to have to figure it out. That's why it says he calls the Gibeonites. When he finds this out, he's got to fix the problem. Now, we don't think about headship that often, but one of the New Testament pictures we're given, it's Old and New Testament, is that husbands are the head of their family.They're head of their wife. They're the head of the household. So, I want to say to husbands in the room, every problem in your house is your problem. You don't get to say,"Well, that's her thing. Well, she's the one who deals with the kids.Well, she told me she didn't want me to be involved in that, so we'll just see how it goes."That's not how it works. David doesn't get to go,"Well, that was Saul's fault. take it up with Saul. Oh, he's dead. Let's move on. David has to try to figure out this problem because he's the representative head for the people of Israel.So, that's where we are. That's what's happening at this moment in the text. Okay.So, he's called the Gibeonites.Verse three. And David said to the Gibeonites,"What shall I do for you? And how shall I make atonement that you may bless the heritage of the Lord?"There's blood, guilt, there's sin. There needs to be atonement. How can we atone for this sin?That's what he's asking. The Gibeonites said to him,"It is not a matter of silver or gold between us and Saul or his house. Neither is it for us to put any man to death in Israel."And he said,"What do you say that I shall do for you?"So he calls them together and says,"How do we make this right? How do we atone for this?"And they say,"Is it sitting the sort of thing that we can settle out of court? It's not the sort of thing that's not a matter of silver and gold.You can't just pay off this debt with money. And then they say,"And we're not allowed to put people to death. That's not the position that we're in."And then they stop talking. Because what they're saying to him is,"But you can put people to death."So he says,"What do you want me to do for you?"Because there's a blood debt.Verse 5. They said to the king,"The man who consumed us and planned to destroy us so that we should have no place in all the territory of Israel, let seven of his sons be given to us, so that we may hang them before the Lord at Gibeah of Saul, the chosen of the Lord."And the king said,"I will give them."So they said,"We want seven of his sons. He killed us in our place. We want to kill them in his place. in his location. We want to hang them before the Lord as a representative sacrifice.That's what they're going to propose. David says,"We can do that."So, they're going to take these seven sons, seven relatives of Saul because Saul is dead, and they're going to make them pay this blood debt. Now, it's not equal because for Saul to try to eradicate them is basically what they're saying. He tried to wipe us out of here. I seriously doubt he'd only killed seven men.So what they request is representative atonement. And even if it's horrific and gruesome, this idea of rounding these guys up, going to their home, knocking on the door, and saying,"Hey, you're related to Saul. You've got to come. You're going to pay this debt."And having to go kill them publicly, have a public execution. At least the impulse should make some sense to us.If you found out that in North Korea they had overthrown the rule of the Kims and that they had gone into the royal palaces and they had killed every Kim they could find, we go,"Well, that I mean I understand it. I understand that they don't want that household, that family rising up again. I understand that they're trying to make them pay for all that they've done in their um ruling over them and their hardship."It's like we can understand the impulse even if there's parts of it that are revuls repulsive to us. But they asked for seven and David says yes. And then it says this verse 7.But the king spared Mephibosheth the son of Saul's son Jonathan because of the oath of the Lord that was between them between David and Jonathan the son of Saul. Now we don't exactly know when this took place but we know it does seem like it's after Mephibosheth has been found and is apart. Then it says,"The king took the two sons of Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah, whom she bore to Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth."That's a different Mephibosheth. That's uncle Mephibosheth. And the five sons of Merab, the daughter of Saul, whom she bore to Adriel, the son of Barzillai, the Meholathite.If you remember Barzillai from a couple days ago, the 80-year-old man, that's not him. It's a different Barzillai. So, we got two Mephibosheth, two Barzillai. and he gave them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them on the mountain before the Lord, and the seven of them perished together. They were put to death in the first days of the harvest at the beginning of the barley harvest. Now, this would have been a scant barley harvest or a non-existent barley harvest, but right at the beginning of the barley harvest, in the middle of this famine, which the Gibeonites are also having to deal with the famine, they hang them and put them to death.This next part is very sad. Then Rispa, the daughter of Aiiah, took sackcloth and spread it for herself on the rock from the beginning of the harvest until rain fell upon them from the heavens. Now, the beginning of the harvest is in April. Guaranteed normal rainy season. That's the starting of the dry season.Normal raining season doesn't start till September, October. Rain is almost non-existent during that middle period. It is possible there was some rain that came sooner, but it's also possible she was doing this for months. She did this until rain fell from the heavens and she did not allow the birds of the air to come upon them by day or the beasts of the field by night. So she sets up a vigil.She was not able to save her sons and her nephews from death, but she goes and camps out in front of them. She's not going to let birds pick their eyes out. And she's not going to let beasts come by and eat them. And she sits in front of them while they bake in the sun, while they rot, while they decompose. And she gives them as much honor as she can possibly give them, which is the only thing she knows how to do.It's horrific. But she has two sons and she's not going to let them be dishonored any further than they have to be.Verse 11. When David was told what Rispa, the daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul, had done, David went and took the bones of Saul and the bones of his son Jonathan from the men of Jabeshgilead, who had stolen them from the public square of Bethshan when the Philistines had hanged them on the day the Philistines killed Saul on Gilboa. Those are all events that have been we've gone through previously in 1 and 2 Samuel. And he brought up from there the bones of Saul and the bones of his son Jonathan. And they gathered the bones of those who were hanged.And they buried the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan in the land of Benjamin and Za in the tomb of Kish his father. And they did all that the king commanded. And after that God responded to the plea for the land. David finds out what she's doing and he goes,"Okay, they're still hanging there."He's going to finish putting into this. He goes and gets the bones of Saul and Jonathan, the bones of the men who've been hanged, and he buries them.And after that, God responds to the police. So this agreement made between David and the Gibeonites, God honors the payment, accepts the atonement of blood for blood, and responds to the plea. That's the first picture that we're given that it's about to immediately swap to another picture. We're going to take a moment when we get done with both of them to try to understand what is it saying to them. How would they have understood this?And then how do we understand it? So second picture, that's first picture.Second picture, there was war again. And this is again not in chronological order. There's no really these are just kind of floating out there. There was war again between the Philistines and Israel. And David went down together with his servants, and they fought against the Philistines.And David grew weary. And Ishbi Benob, one of the descendants of the giants, whose spear weighed 300 shekels of bronze, and who was armed with a new sword, thought to kill David. But Abashai, the son of Zerui, came to his aid, and attacked the Philistine, and killed him. Then David's men swore to him,"You shall no longer go out with us to battle, lest you quench the lamp of Israel."There's several things that are going to happen in this section. First, we see that David at some point was getting older, was getting tired.They said,"Look, you can't go out with us."So, they're giving some explanation to why David quit going out with the army the way that he used to. We see Abashai, the son of Zerui, who's shown up consistently throughout this, showing up and saving David's life. We also see a giant and there's going to be several giants in this text. And so I have a couple of things to say when it comes to the idea of giants. One, this does not have to be the most fantastic thing in your mind.The idea that there are giants. There are giants in the Bible. We're going to talk a little bit about the fantastic side of that in a second. But it doesn't have to be the most fantastic side of things. I want to show y'all a picture.This is a picture. I had AI put two pictures together, but the guy in the middle is 5 foot seven, 5 foot eight. He would walk amongst us and not really stand out. You wouldn't be like,"Wow, what an average fellow."That's always you just be here fine. To his left is a tribe of pygmies.This was taken recently. They exist in Africa in the jungles. The average height of the pygmy tribes is about 5t tall for males. So they're about 5t tall. To his right in South Sudan, there are the Dinka people who have whole families at the average height is 6'5.If the Pygmies had to go fight the Dinka, they might be like,"Oh my goodness, those guys are huge."They may say,"We spied them out and they look like they made us feel like grasshoppers."So all I'm saying, the whole point of showing you this, other than I think the picture is neat looking, is that that's just normal genetics at play right now. These families of giants were just families that had genetics that we're playing into they're really big. And in a world where the biggest baddest guy kills people and gets all the women, he can have a whole lot of children. And so what we have is several families, sons of Anoch, sons of Rafa, that just were really big. And there's several giants.It doesn't have to be this big fantastic thing. You can pull that picture down. The other thing is, just side note, there are some things in the Bible that we don't have all the answers to. How exactly does this work? How many were there?What did they look like? Why does this one guy we're about to read about have six fingers and six toes? I don't know. But if you get on the internet, you can get sucked into a black hole of weird stuff that is unhelpful. And there are people who some are I would say lack wisdom or misguided and I would say some who are evil and demonically led who are trying to pull people into the oddest corners of the Bible.And they want to tell you that well you really got to find out. We we've got to we got to get behind this thing. We got to figure it out. We got to get underneath it. There's something really going on.There's a secret in the Bible and you got to hold it like this and squint with your left eye. It's like what are you talking about? That that's not how it works. So whenever there's like this mystery, this hidden thing, this secret thing, only we know about it. We figured out where the lost 12 tribes went.All this mess, the Bible is extremely clear. There was a mystery. It's been revealed in Christ. All the wisdom and knowledge is found in Christ. He's the revealing of God's promises.The book of Revelation, which is going to reveal, pull back the curtain and show you, it's the revelation of Jesus Christ. It is not unclear. So, if somebody's pulling you into some weird niche thing and they're like,"You have to know this."If I did, can I tell you, it would be in here very clearly. Do you know how many times Paul repeats himself? If I had to know it, he'd have written it in like four of his letters.If it was the most important thing, like it would be showing up and stuff. Now, there are times where we're basing some information off of one piece of little thing we have, but the non-essential pieces of the faith is clear. The revelation of Christ is clear. So, I would suggest you do what David does, what his mighty men do here, which is put the giants to death and then live your life free of them. So, if there's weird little things you like to get into, get done with that and live your life in the joy and the freedom and the hope of the gospel and the clarity of the scriptures.That's all I'm going to yell at you about that at this moment.Verse 18. After this, there was again war with the Philistines at Gob or Gob. Then Cib Cibekiah the Hushathite struck down Saf who was one of the descendants of the giants. And there was again war with the Philistines at Gob. And Elhan the son of Jaier Orahim the Bethlehemite struck down Goliath the Gitite, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver's beam.Okay, Goliath the Gitite is just another way of saying Goliath of Gath, which means a whole lot of ink has been spilled over this one verse where people are talking about what does this mean? And there's all kinds of weird theories like Elhanan must have been David's nickname. I don't think so. Couple of options for who this Goliath of Gath is. One, there were two guys named Goliath.That's possible. We already ran into two Mephibosheths and two Barzillais. Two, Goliath is a title, not a name. Three, there is a textual issue here and it's supposed to say brother of Goliath of Gath, which is what sec first Chronicles, I have it written down, 1st Chronicles 20:5 says that Elhanan killed his brother. And there are only a few places in the Old Testament we have very trustw trustworthy manuscripts, but it's possible that we're just missing a word here.Anyway, we're not going to spend any more time on that. But he kills a giant.Verse 20. And there was again war at Gath. It's verse 20. And there was a man of great stature who had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot, 24 in number. He also was descended from the giants.So there's some genetic anomalies going on here. Also, whenever they start telling you how much their clothes weighed or how many fingers they had or whatever, usually those people are going to die. And I think they just count that out and weigh it later. I don't know if he was swinging his spear and they were like ducking and being like,"Does his hand look weird?"I think maybe they figured it out later. I high-fived him.It felt like a lot. All right, verse 21. And when he taunted Israel, Jonathan, the son of Shimi, David's brother, struck him down. These four were descended from the giants in Gath, and they fell by the hand of David and by the hand of his servants. And those are the two pictures we're going to look at today.Now, the first thing I want to ask quickly is why? What is this serving? In the epilogue of David, what point is this making? I think the first story is reminding us, putting in our head that David is sorting out the leftover problems from Saul. That some of the problems that happened during David's reign weren't even David's fault.He He's coming in and fixing problems caused by Saul. I also think it's showing that even when David had negative things happen in his reign between his house and Saul's house, it wasn't David just seeking to get revenge on Saul. That David was trying to navigate difficult situations. And at the end of this, he even tries to show as much honor as he can to them by burying them even though the Gibeonites hadn't treated him that well. I think that's the first story.David as representative head is fixing problems on behalf of the nation, fixing problems left by Saul and not trying to have a ton of hostility between his house and Saul's house. I think the second picture is, hey, you remember how there used to be giants? You know how there aren't anymore? Y'all should be thankful to David. That's the second picture is just the Philistines used to be a big problem after David.They're not a big problem. Giants used to be a big problem after David and his mighty men. They're not a big problem. like it's just a picture of remember that David went to war for us. Remember that David cleared out problems. Remember that David defended us.I think that's basically what that second picture is doing. Now for us as we read this story and we try to understand how should we think about things like this.The first thing that I would recommend to us is that there's something going on with the idea of blood guilt. This idea of collective guilt, this idea of headship, representative headship that has guilt on us that we ought to consider. And I specifically had this in mind as we're going into Fourth of July and celebrating this this, you know, America 250. You I'm glad America's been here for 250 years. And if the Lord delays his return, I hope America hits another 250.I hope there's an America 500 and that all the states in the union allow fireworks and it's a blessed occasion. But I hope that the next 250 years are years of peace, justice, righteousness, goodness. I hope they're years of obedience. I hope they're years of worship. I hope that this isn't just a a pagan nation that exists for a long time, a powerful nation that exists for a long time.I hope it's a faithful nation. And we ought to consider if there is shared guilt and blood guilt that can spread to peoples and to a nation and that can pollute the land. The Lord even talks about when sexual sin in Leviticus, he says that the land will vomit you out because they've piled up this sin. Then we ought to be people who pray for our nation, for our leaders, who repent for our nation, for our leaders. I came across this quote as I was studying this this week, and I want to share it with you. says,"We think of the unknown slaves who died in despair on southern plantations, the unknown immigrants who died in squalor outside northern factories, and the unknown faces of infant children today who will never see the light of day because of the sins of their mothers and the conspiracy of a wicked society."None of these names are unknown to God.None of the crimes forgotten in the annals of his perfect justice. How great is the blood guilt on this land as with the land of so many other nations that have already fallen under the sword of God's providential justice. So may the Lord bless us, but may he be merciful on us. And may we be people who pray for the grace and the mercy of the Lord and for things to change and for things to be good and for there to be righteousness here. And the idea that everything the US does is excellent because the US did it.Let us not be fooled into believing that. But let us be people who long for another kingdom where certain things never take place. I think that's one of the things that we should see in this text as we consider the idea of blood guilt and shared guilt and representative headship. May we be repentant and prayerful and hopeful in the light of God's goodness to move forward well. But I think there's a problem in the middle of that that we have to reckon with.When we read this story, we we see that there's shared guilt, which is foreign to us. Feels wrong. That Saul could commit a sin and that it would be on his family and that it would the whole nation would have to pay for it and then Saul's children would have to pay for it feels wrong. And that God would accept the sacrifice at the end feels wrong. You almost want God to show up at the end and go that y'all did this wrong.Why are you rounding up people and killing them for something Saul did? But he doesn't. He says he accepts. He accepts the plea for the land. And so there's part of us that is like,"This doesn't feel fair.This feels off."We want to look at this text and go,"This text, this is unfair. That idea is unfair. And therefore, it's unjust and therefore wrong. And maybe God's evil."That's kind of the track we follow. So I want to share a story with you, and I'm kind of coming at this from the side to try to help us wrap our head around something.So we're going to change subjects for just a second. I want to read a story. This was recently posted online by Nouaga, if I'm pronouncing that correctly. He's Japanese. He wrote this story, posted it online.Some of you may have seen it, maybe you haven't. I want to read it to you. He says,"USA, a Mexican restaurant. We had not yet ordered anything and the food was already arriving. Chips, salsa, unrequested, free.I stopped the waiter. We have not earned these. They just come with the table, man. Okay.Now, he didn't say,"We've not ordered these."He's Japanese. He said,"We have not earned these."There's something going on here for him. Let's see what happens. They come with the table. In my land, hospitality is a debt.Every gift creates an obligation weighed carefully, returned in the proper season with interest of feeling. Here, the gift arrives before you have even proven you can pay for dinner. This is not an appetizer. This is a declaration. We trust you.Eat. chips hit the table and he starts having psychological problems. He is working his best to process what on earth is happening. And it is culturally cross so many lines for him that they've made a declaration of trust. Now, do you feel well trusted when chips hit the table? I don't think you've ever thought about it.I ate with the gravity the moment deserved. People are snacking, eating chips. He's eating with gravity over here. And then I must report this calmly. The basket emptied and a new one appeared.Did we? Like he's trying to What is happening? Refill. The waiter said it's bottomless. Bottomless.They have wells of salsa. The supply lines of this nation are beyond anything my ancestors imagined. My friend warned me,"Don't fill up on chips, dude. Too late."I had accepted three baskets. Honor demanded each one be finished.An unfinished gift is an insult. By the time my actual food arrived, I was a ruined man. This is a trap for a Japanese person because if you finish the chips, they're going to give you more. But he has to finish the chips or he's dishonoring the whole group of people that have brought him here. He's dishonoring those who have handed to him.He's got to honor the gift. He's got to finish the chips. And when he does it, another basket arrives. He says,"Thank you."And goes back to eating with the gravity the moment demands. It says this,"I was not hungry.I was not comfortable. I had been defeated by a courtesy."Generosity that arrives before the request cannot be repaid. It can only be survived. I know the rule. I have made my peace with the basket.One basket. Two at the most. Who am I deceiving? There is no number of baskets I would refuse. The trust of a nation is in that salsa and I intend to honor all of it.Now, have you ever been in a Mexican restaurant and thought,"The trust of the nation is in this salsa. I must honor their trust."Not once, not ever. And as he describes this to you, it's like,"What are you even talking about? How is this an honor shame situation? This is we're at a restaurant.How are you having to honor their gift? They're just giving you chips. Like the it doesn't compute for us. And what happens when we interact with someone who has a completely different culture because you've just been trained in a culture. You've just been equipped in one.And there are things that are ingrained in you. If I'm somewhere and there are no seats and there's a lady, I have to get up. And I'll say,"Here, you have the seat."And if they say,"No, you sit."Then we both just stand because I can't sit back down because I'll die inside and think about it later. I'll ride in my truck later and be like,"I was sitting. They were standing.What have I not?"Like it messes with me because it's been it's built into me. We We all have these things. He has that. So he's overthinking chips where we're all free and we can explain it to him, but he can't not feel it. He can't not feel the chips sitting in the basket.I'm sure there was a moment when he was thinking,"Don't eat But he's like,"I have to or I'm bringing shame and not handling this well and I've got to be thankful and the trust of the nation is in this salsa, whatever that means."Now, what happens when we interact with people of other cultures like that is that we'll often look at them and go,"Huh, that's how y'all think about that? That's interesting. That's not how we think about it, but that's interesting. It's it's weird. You might ask more questions, but there's this level of humility.We'll read things in the biblical text where we're bringing our same American, Western sensibilities. We'll run into something that we don't understand and we'll go,"Well, that's wrong. Feels unfair to me. Unfair means unjust. Unjust means wrong.Wrong means evil. If God's like this, then he's unfair. Unjust, wrong, evil. I don't have to follow him. I don't have to believe him."and we will come with the most insane level of blind confidence that if it goes against my sensibilities, I'm right, it's wrong, and God can be dismissed.Now, in this situation, if we're going to have a handful of humility and a handful of blind confidence, and we have to choose who we're going to interact with, God or noaga, who gets humility and who gets confidence? I'd say let's hit Nounaga with blind confidence and let's walk towards God with some humility. But we so often just go, it feels sideways to me, so it must be wrong. And if I feel it, then it's wrong and so this can't be good and therefore I can get rid of it. What ought to happen when we hit a text and we go,"Wait a second.Headship guilt. Wait a second. Blood sacrifice from family members to pay this back. There's blood guilt. I don't understand that.What we ought to realize is there's something wrong in my understanding. I'm missing a piece and I've got to submit to this because God has authority over me and he's right. I'm not wrong. If God is real and we believe that he's real and that he's over all things, then we should expect to find things in the Bible that confront us and that correct us. If every time you run into one of those, God has to conform to you, well then you're God and you're in charge.So, we should expect there's going to be moments like this. And y'all, you you can come to the scriptures and go, I don't understand that, but I'll submit to it. I don't understand exactly how that works, but I'll I'll believe it. And that exact same framework I just gave you, you use all the time. You use it, you've used it with your parents, you've used it with a mechanic, you use it with an accountant, you've used it with a doctor.They explain something to you and you don't go,"In order for me to take this medicine, I'm I too must become a doctor. You just go,"I don't understand. I don't understand half the words you just said, but I trust you. And we come to the scriptures and we'll read something we don't understand and go, I guess it must be wrong. I guess I can dismiss God.And that is the most arrogant, prideful, nonsensical position to hold. This is hard to understand. It's hard to It's easy to understand. It's hard to accept. It's hard to get our jump past our sensibilities.This idea of guilt that spreads. But what that means is that there's more to sin than you understand. There's more to sin than you realize. If sexual sin can pollute the land, and if blood guilt can pollute the land, and if it can be shared down to families, and if everybody can pay for it, there's more to sin than you understand. It's actually more dangerous than you think it is.It's like if you tell a child to wash their hands and they look at their hands and go,"They're not dirty."It's like,"That's not how it works."Your hands could be coated in diseases. We don't know. Just wash your hands. And knowing you, they probably are. Go wash your hands.Like, that's And we're like, well, that's not how sin works or this sin isn't a big deal or it's just my sin or it's just their sin or it should it's like that's not how it works. And we should look at passages like this and realize there's more to it and it's more dangerous and it's more heinous. And that we should walk with some level of humility. And whether you like it or not, this idea of representative headship and representative atonement, it's the exact situation you find yourself in. We had a representative named Adam who is the representative head over all of humanity.And he rebelled against God. And we've all been born into Adam into sin because of what he did. This is why the Bible will say things like,"In Adam all die."When you were born, before you got a birth certificate, you were theologically, metaphorically handed an undated death certificate. It's a guarantee because we're in Adam and his sin has spread. and it has to be paid for. And if we read something like this and go there's a 23 and me roundup where they went and got these guys to have their blood pay for this debt and we we repulsed by it.But there's a reality of Jesus showed up to pay a blood debt so that there might be forgiveness. That's what Hebrews 9:22 says. Indeed, under the law, almost everything is purified with blood and without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins. So that Jesus has to come pay a debt. So that in this story, it's as if David were to respond and say,"Well, Saul sinned on behalf of the people.He was the king. I'll pay the debt on behalf of the people. I'm the king. I'll be their new representative. Hang me up."the gruesome picture of a son being stripped and impaled before his mother to be laid out in the sun to die on behalf of others for sin he didn't commit is the exact picture of the cross and the exact hope that we have that there was a representative head who did not sin on beha our behalf but saves on our behalf who paves on our behalf This is what 1 Corinthians 15:21-22 says.For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. I want to read a quote by Charles Simeon in reference to this passage. He was a pastor in England. He says,"The blood of Saul's sons was poured forth as a sacrifice to national justice and as a means of averting the divine displeasure."And it was considered by God as an atonement for the sin which Saul had committed.How much more then will God accept in our behalf the blood of his own son who was sent into the world for the express purpose that he might expedate our guilt and procure for us reconciliation with our offended God. You are either in Adam alone or you're in Christ. We're all in Adam and you can stand in Adam and be under guilt or you can have Christ be your representative head to pay the guilt for you. And you don't have to understand how that works. You just need to understand that it works.That you can humbly walk to the Lord and say,"I don't exactly know how guilt works. I don't exactly know how sin works this way. I know that I've sinned, but I don't know how it works that I'm under this curse. But I understand that you're willing to accept the sacrifice of Jesus. You're willing to accept his atoning blood.You're willing to let him pay on my behalf. And I want him to pay on my behalf. I want to be saved. I want to be rescued. I want him to be my representative head.And you don't have to understand exactly how that works, but you just need to know that that's how it works. And that we get to have Jesus represent us to the father so that we might be forgiven. And if Jesus represents you to the father, you are forgiven. The atoning sacrifice has been paid. So, may we read texts like this with a level of humility, and may we read texts like this in a way that helps us appreciate the goodness of Christ on our behalf.The band's going to come back up.In a moment, we're going to receive communion, which is where we as Christians take time to remind ourselves of the hope of the gospel. We have communion elements set up in the front here. Here we have them in the back. And in that corner there, if you have a gluten allergy, we have a a gluten-free table. And what we do when we take communion is we remind ourselves that there is blood that has been shed on our behalf, that an atoning sacrifice has been paid, that the debt has been covered, that Jesus Christ really came for the express purpose to bridge and reconcile us back to God.It is something for Christians to partake in where we take the body where Jesus said on the night he was betrayed he took bread and he said this is my body broken for you and he gave it to them and said take this and then he took a cup and he said this is my blood shed for the forgiveness of sins take drink and so we take the bread reminding us of the body of Christ that's broken we take the cup we drink reminding us of the blood that was shed and the new covenant that was made with us and we take it reminding ourselves that the atonement has been made.If you are not a Christian, then do not take communion. But we would invite you to come to know Christ and to ask him to be your representative head to rescue you and to get you out of this problem.Let's pray.Lord, may we approach you with humility. May we honor your sacrifice and your generosity and your grace. And Lord, may we hide behind the representative sacrifice of Christ that pays for sin. Trusting in you and you alone in Jesus name. Amen.When you are ready, take and eat.

July 1, 2026 Wednesday Evening Worship Barzillai (II Samuel 17:27-29) Pastor Kevin Humphreys

“Winds in the east, mist coming in...” Our rebels set a trap for Barzillai's most dangerous ally, the blue dragon Rivozair, to save Kintargo from further devastation! Support us on Patreon to access our actual play of the Tyrant's Grasp Adventure Path and other content: https://www.patreon.com/FindthePath Cast Rick Sandidge is Gamemaster and Host Heather Allen [...] The post Hell's Rebels Episode 166: Rivozair appeared first on Find the Path Ventures.

Group Guide Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week. 2 Samuel 19:8b-40 Chet Phillips Download TranscriptGood morning. My name is Chet. I'm one of the pastors here. If you will grab a Bible and go to 2 Samuel chapter 19. We're working our way through the book of 2 Samuel. We have made a shift recently.We would always have the passages that we were on on the screen and we have stopped doing that. Our hope is that as people of the Bible, as people of a book, we would grow in our ability to hold and read a book in a culture that has increasingly lost the ability to hold and read a book. And so we want to be people who we practice that together on Sunday mornings. And our hope is that it'll be helpful. We think it may be a kind of an annoying shift, but we hope that it'll bear fruit and we'll see. So we're not promising we'll never go back to putting it on the screen.We are promising we won't quickly. We're going to try to see if we can learn how to hold and read a book. Bring your Bibles with you. If you don't have a Bible, grab one of the black ones that should be in the seat row and one of those little cages in front of you. If you can't reach one easily, smack someone and do like this till they hand you a Bible. We're going to be on page 309.One of the joys of pastoring is getting to perform weddings. You get to celebrate with people. It's a lot of fun to perform a wedding, to get to be there with people during that time. It can be anxiety ridden because people do remember the things you say at their weddings. And if you mess it up, they're upset by that. But it is fun.And one of the blessings that we have as a church is that we have five pastors. So different ones of our pastors get to participate in performing weddings. There was a time there where I went a long time without getting to perform a wedding. Matt Freeman performed some weddings. Raz Bradley performed some weddings. Isaac Hill performed some weddings.Spencer Cary performed some weddings and I didn't perform any weddings. And that's fine. But my wife and I were discussing this at one point. And she said, yeah, I don't know why people don't ask you to perform their weddings. And I was like, yeah, I don't know either. And then we sat there quietly for a little while.And then she said, I do think people want their pictures to look nice. So I said, hold on a second. So it turns out my beloved wife of many years doesn't think that I always have the most pleasant look on my face. That could tip the balance away from me. But one of the things that's happened is I've sat in other weddings performed by our other pastors.I've heard Spencer say several times in weddings as he goes to have the couple give their vows, declare their vows to one another. He'll say, if you are a married person in the room, I would encourage you at this time to consider your vows. As they take their vows for the first times, I would encourage you to consider your vows that you have made and the promises that you have made and what that looks like in your life right now and have the opportunity to reinvest in your vows. And the reason I bring that up is because that's in some ways how we're going to approach this passage this morning.We are in the middle of David who has had to flee from his son who has rebelled against him. And then they had a battle and Absalom died and everyone ran away and it kind of broke up. And now we're going to see today as David returns back from across the Jordan, back over to Jerusalem. And as we read these individual interactions, we're going to see three individual interactions between David and individuals as he comes back and they have to reckon with the return of their king. We're going to take a moment to consider as a gathered people of God, as Christians who've gathered this morning, that we are in a rebellious kingdom waiting for a returning king.We're in a similar situation. Now, this situation plays out differently than ours is going to play out because David is imperfect and this kingdom that he's coming back to is imperfect, as we'll see in the coming weeks. But we're going to just pause. We're going to read one of these stories, try to understand it, and then we're going to pause and consider for a moment our situation with our better king. And then we're going to kind of work our way through in that manner. So that's what we're going to do today.I'm going to pray for us and then we'll hop in to the story. Lord, we ask that you would help us to consider well the position that we're in, to consider well our hearts, to see our lives well in light of your imminent return. That as people who await the return of a good king to set up a righteous kingdom, that we would wait properly and be ready for that day. Help us to study your word well. In Jesus' name, amen. All right, we're going to pick up in 2 Samuel chapter 19 verse 8b.And the reason b just means the back half of verse 8b. The verses were added later, so sometimes you end up needing to pick up in a different place. So it's just, it says, now Israel had fled every man to his own home. So that's after Absalom's rebellion. Absalom dies. Everybody who was helping him flees.And all the people were arguing throughout all the tribes of Israel saying, the king delivered us from the hand of our enemies and saved us from the hand of the Philistines. And now he has fled out of the land from Absalom. But Absalom, who we anointed over us, is dead in battle. Now, therefore, why do you say nothing about bringing the king back? So Israel begins to argue amongst themselves as they've traveled back home as, hey, we, King David was pretty good.He saved us from the Philistines. We held a very unsuccessful rebellion. Why don't we bring the king back? Why aren't we trying to fix this? That's what they start to say. And apparently this word of this makes it to David.David is in Mahanaim. He fled from Jerusalem. So he's crossed over. That's why they're talking about bringing him back because he left. Once he crossed over the Jordan, he's kind of away from the people, even though there are some tribes that would be up here by the Sea of Galilee. And there are some tribes that are over here at Mahanaim.He's kind of out of the main part of the people, the main part of the promised land. They actually had a whole big discussion of whether or not they could settle tribes on that side of the Jordan because the promised land was on the other side of the Jordan. They decided they could, but then they had all this, you know, relational drama over time to try to settle that they're allowed to be over there, but they are still part of Israel. But the main bulk of the land that belongs to them is on the other side of the Jordan. And David is not there. And they're saying, let's bring him back.And most of what we're going to see today is going to happen at the Jordan River. It's going to happen while David is coming back and people are coming up from Jerusalem in that area to meet him at the Jordan. So that's what they're talking about. It says, and King David, this is verse 11. And King David sent this message to Zadok and Abiathar, the priests who were their pro David. They were willing to come with him.He says, say to the elders of Judah, why should you be the last to bring the king back to his house when the word of all Israel has come to the king? So the tribe of Judah is around Jerusalem and that's the tribe that David is from, but they're not murmuring about bringing them back. Everybody else is. And so he sends message to him and says, Hey, say, what are y'all doing? What's the holdup? Why are you taking forever?Verse 12? You are my brothers. We're the same tribe. You are my bone and my flesh. Why then should you be last to bring back the king and say to Amasa? Okay.Amasa is David's nephew and Amasa joined Absalom and was Absalom's general in the battle they just had. Joab is David's nephew who's over his army. Amasa was the over Absalom's army. He says, say to Amasa, are you not my bone and my flesh? God do so to me and more also if you are not commander of my army from now on in place of Joab. So I think David's doing two things there.One, Joab just killed Absalom after David specifically asked him not to. So there seems to be some frustration potentially between David and Joab because Joab is dangerous and willing to not do what David asked. And so there's some hurt there, even though the most recent thing we read was David following Joab's call on how he ought to treat his troops. Amasa would have been in David's army for a long time and only once tried to kill him in a rebellion. But Amasa is probably the strongest figure left in and around Judah.He is over the army. If power is going to shift after Absalom dies, it would most likely shift to Amasa. And so he's saying, hey, you come here, you'll replace Joab, you'll be over my army, and we'll go from there. And so he's in some ways removing Joab, but also removing Amasa as a threat and bringing him back over to his side. That's the game plan here. That's why he says that.Verse 14, and he swayed the heart of all the men of Judah as one man. So they sent word to the king, return both you and all your servants. So the king came back to the Jordan and Judah and came to Gilgal and Judah came to Gilgal to meet the king and to bring the king over the Jordan. And Shimei, the son of Gerah, the Benjaminite from Bahurim, hurried to come down with the men of Judah to meet King David. For the record, when you're reading the Bible, a lot of times people come down from Jerusalem because it is uphill. So they can come down and head north, just so you know, because they are heading down a hill.Down does not mean all south when you're reading your scriptures. So he comes down to meet David, but he's heading northeast. And with him were a thousand men from Benjamin and Ziba, the servant of the house of Saul with his 15 sons and his 20 servants rushed down to the Jordan before the king. And they crossed the ford to bring over the king's household and to do his pleasure. Which got introduced to two people, Shimei and Ziba. Ziba we'll deal with in a second when we talk about Mephibosheth, but he's the one who's related to the situation with Mephibosheth.But let's talk about Shimei for a second. Do y'all remember Shimei, the son of Gerah, the Benjaminite from Bahurim? If you don't remember Shimei, the son of Gerah, the Benjaminite from Bahurim, when David was fleeing in chapter 16, Shimei, the son of Gerah, the Benjaminite from Bahurim, came out while David was in Bahurim and cursed David. So he's a Benjaminite, meaning he was from the people of Saul. He's not of the tribe of Judah. So when David's fleeing Shimei, the son of Gerah, the Benjaminite from Bahurim comes out and basically says, Oh, in your face, David, you deserve this.Oh, God got you. Now all the things that you've done, you man of blood, you wicked, worthless, sorry son. He says all kinds of things to him and throws rocks at him and says everything that you did to the house of Saul is coming back on you, which is really unfair because David didn't do much of anything to the house of Saul. He actually went out of his way to find people in the house of Saul to be nice to. He just was anointed King. And then he ran from Saul for a really long time.But this guy who had more position and more power of being a Benjaminite in the house of Saul comes out and curses him. And while he's doing this, one of David's soldiers basically says, can we kill him? And David says, no, because maybe God told him to curse me. And then we don't want to oppose God. Or maybe God didn't. And God will hear him cursing me.And God will feel sorry for me and be nice to me because this guy's being mean to me. Either way, don't kill him. Let's go. Well, Shimei hears that David is coming back and seems to think something along the lines of, uh-oh. And he heads to go meet him. It says, this is the back half of verse 18.And Shimei, the son of Gerah, fell down before the king as he was about to cross the Jordan and said to the king, let not my Lord hold me guilty. Or remember how your servant did wrong on the day my Lord, the king left Jerusalem. Do not let the king take it to heart for your servant knows that I have sinned. Therefore, behold, I have come this day, the first of all the house of Joseph to come down to meet my Lord, the king. Abishai, the son of Zeruiah answered. This is Joab's brother, one of David's military leaders.Shall not Shimei be put to death for this because he cursed the Lord's anointed? Which cursing the king isn't something to to take lightly. Cursing the Lord's anointed is not something to take lightly. Open rebellion against the king that God placed in the position that he's in is not something to take lightly. And Abishai says, shouldn't he be put to death? But David said, what do I have to do with you?You sons of Zeruiah, that you should this day be as an adversary to me. Shall anyone be put to death in Israel this day? For do I not know that I am this day king over Israel? And the king said to Shimei, you shall not die. And the king gave him his oath. So Shimei comes and lays down before him and says, don't take it to heart.Don't remember it. Please forgive me. I know I was wrong. I shouldn't have said the things I said. I shouldn't have done what I should have done. And Abishai standing there with the king says, let's put him to death.And David says, what do I have to do with you? Why are you an adversary to me? This is a day of rejoicing. This is a day of joy. I'm king in Israel. Nobody's being put to death today.And so he spares him. And there's part of me that goes, yeah, but he just said he was sorry because it didn't work out. Get him. There's part of me that doesn't want this to play out the way it does. But when we consider the position that we're in as we await the return of our king, that it plays out like this is wonderful news.And that we have the same hope is wonderful news. Because we're supposed to approach our king in repentance as well. And we also have an adversary that stands there and accuses us before him. And we are also thankful that God in his grace sent someone to pay for our sin, that Jesus Christ died for our sin, that we might have forgiveness, that we might be able to repent. That's the way we're supposed to approach the return of Jesus. And so I think when we read this story about Shimei, we should ask the question, do you see your sin?Do you know that you need forgiveness? Can you see that you're wrong? I don't think Shimei saw it until he reckoned with the return of David. And I think some of you need to reckon with the return of Jesus that one day he will set up his kingdom. I had a guy who used to work for me when I ran a firework store. He was a young guy and we were talking about he had grown up in the church.We were talking about Jesus and he was in college and he just said, yeah, I like I know the stuff I'm doing is wrong. And I'll need to like repent and, you know, ask Jesus to forgive me. He said, I just, I just don't want to. And I've got plenty of time. I'm young. I've got plenty of time.Now, he doesn't know that we don't know that we don't know that he has plenty of time. Personally, we don't know if we have plenty of time before the Lord returns. He says he's going to return at any time when he wants to. And so the idea that we don't consider the return of the Lord and we continue in our sin, I think it's helpful for us to see, you know, we actually are supposed to approach the Lord in repentance. That's what Jesus says. That's his first message.When he comes to earth, he says, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. That's the proclamation. The kingdom calls us to repentance or an Acts five. When they're preaching the gospel, they say God exalted him. That's Jesus at his right hand as leader and savior to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. That's our hope is that there's repentance and forgiveness.Second Peter three, when he's talking about the return of the Lord, he says, the Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise. That's the promise of him coming back as some count slowness, but it's patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. Do you see your sin? We have care nights and community groups. Do you take the time to consider your sin? Do you take the time to understand your need for forgiveness?You show up and go, I'm doing good about the same. I'm fine. One of the signs of faithfully following Jesus is there should be times when you or someone in your group says, Hey, actually I need to talk to you. I need to come. I know it's not a care night, but I don't sin on a schedule. And so I need to repent now.I don't just wait for like the week leading up to care night to get all my sins out so that I can talk about them on that, you know, that nice scheduled Tuesday. We do that on purpose to build the rhythm of repentance, but it's something that we should do something that we should see our need for a savior and the hope that we have that there is forgiveness because we don't save ourselves, but we do get to have repentance and forgiveness. That's our hope. So I think that's what we should consider as we consider, as we see Shimei on his face before the King, we should consider, do we see our sin?Do we know what happens when he returns? The second interaction and Mephibosheth, the son of Saul came down to meet the King. Now he's in the line of Saul. That's what that means. He's Saul's grandson. Mephibosheth, if you remember, is Jonathan's son.He is crippled in his feet is the way the text describes him. And he is the one who David went and searched out and brought specifically to his table. And David found Ziba and said, is there anybody left that we can be, that I can be nice to in the house of Saul? And Ziba said, yes, there's Mephibosheth. He goes and gets Mephibosheth. And then he places Mephibosheth with Ziba under him as Ziba is his servant.When David flees, Ziba shows up with no Mephibosheth. And David says, where's Mephibosheth? And Ziba says, oh, he was so excited that you're fleeing. He actually said, this is great because today I'll become King. So I just left because I'm on your team.And David says, okay, well, everything that belongs to Mephibosheth is yours. And that's how they leave. When David's returning, Mephibosheth shows up. Verse 24, he had neither taken care of his feet nor trimmed his beard nor washed his clothes from the day the king departed until the day he came back in safety. Mephibosheth looks rough. David's been gone for a while.He's been gone long enough to make it all the way to Mahanaim, to set up himself there, to fight a battle, to have everyone flee back to their homes, to then have arguments, to hear the whispers, to then send a message to Judah, to then have Judah talk it out, send back and him to make it here. It's been a while. Mephibosheth hasn't taken care of his feet, hadn't shaved his beard, hadn't washed his clothes. I don't know if you've ever bumped into someone at CVS who looks like they died that morning, microwaved themselves and then headed into CVS. And you're just like, oh, hey, and you take a step back because you don't want what they have.That's what Mephibosheth looks like. He's not looking good right now, obviously in a state of distress. It says, So Mephibosheth says, yeah, he tricked me. He saddled up and left. But I'm at your mercy.He slandered me to you, but I'm at your mercy. I was a part of a rebellious enemy house of yours until you brought me in and cared for me. I don't have anything else, any other claims to make. I don't have anything. Just you decide. That's Mephibosheth's approach.And the king said to him, why speak any more of your affairs? I have decided you and Ziba shall divide the land. And Mephibosheth said to the king, oh, let him take it all since my Lord, the king has come home safely. And that's most likely just a nice way of saying thank you. He's going to take half of it. He'll accept the gift.The king wants the king says that, but he just says, that's not what I'm most worried about. I'm thankful you're back. Now, I don't know if David's right in his ruling here. I think David was quick in his original ruling with Ziba. I think he's quick in his ruling here. I don't think that Ziba and Mephibosheth could go back to the same situation they were in.That makes some sense. And Ziba did help David as he fled. So I think he just kind of honors Mephibosheth, honors Ziba, cuts it in half and just moves on. But as we consider our position awaiting our king, and I consider Mephibosheth who went into mourning because of the situation that he was in, who had great upheaval in his life. I just started considering how comfortable are we with the situation that we're in? Do we see the need we have for a good king who brings justice?Do we see the need we have for a king to set things right? Do we see that we're not at home here? Because I think it's so easy if we're well fed, if we're well provided for, if we're prosperous enough, if we're comfortable enough to not really long for the king to return. I think there's a lot of things we might be looking more forward to. We're not in a state of mourning and waiting for him to come and set things right. Sometimes we are.Sometimes there's seasons of life where you feel that acutely. But I think it's very easy for us to be comforted to the ability to be dull. Entertained to where our senses are no longer aware of injustice and need and brokenness and the hope of a returning king who sets things right. So I think we need to ask, do I see my need? Do I long for the return of the king? Do I want Jesus to come fix what's broken here?Or am I just fine? And the things I'm most concerned about are simpler and shorter and closer. Because Mephibosheth needed David to come back to fix things for him. Verse 31, the third interaction. Now Barzillai, the Gileadite, had come down from Rogelim and he went on with the king to the Jordan to escort him over the Jordan.So he actually lived on the other side and met David when he fled and helped feed him and helped care for him. And he's coming towards the Jordan with him, not meeting him. He's not coming to the Jordan. He's coming with David and he's kind of at the Jordan. He's basically escorting him on his way out. That's the way he's coming.Verse 32, Barzillai was a very aged man, 80 years old. I don't know how that hits some of y'all, but I'm just reading what it said. He had provided the king with food while he stayed at Mahanaim, for he was a very wealthy man. And the king said to Barzillai, come over with me and I will provide for you with me in Jerusalem. But Barzillai said to the king, how many years have I still to live that I should go up with the king to Jerusalem?I am this day 80 years old. Can I discern what is pleasant and what is not? Can your servant taste what he eats or what he drinks? Can I still listen to the voice of singing men and singing women? Why then should your servant be an added burden to my Lord, the king? Your servant will go a little way over the Jordan with the king.Why should the king repay me with such a reward? Please let your servant return that I may die in my own city near the grave of my father and my mother. But here's your servant, Chimham. Let him go over with my Lord, the king, and you do whatever seems good to you. So David says, you care for us, come with me back to Jerusalem and I'll care for you.You get to eat at the king's table. You get the best of everything. And Barzillai says, no thank you. Mostly what I want is to live where I live, to die among my people, to be buried with my household, and everything good you have to offer is kind of wasted on me. He said, I don't really taste the food I eat anymore. So it doesn't matter who the chef is.I can't hear people sing and dance and enjoy that sort of thing anymore. So it just kind of gets on my nerves. He didn't say that. That's me reading into it. That's the way my grandparents were on some things where they like movies were annoying because of the, you know, you go in and it's like high quality sound and they're like, I can't hear anything. This is obnoxious.I don't want to be there. It'd be like if you were like, hey, we're going to a rave. You want to come? No, I don't. I do not want to participate in anything that is loud and populated. So he says, come to Jerusalem.And he says, no, thank you. But Chimham would probably love that sort of thing. Take him. Chimham. You can taste food. Yeah, cool.You're going to love Jerusalem. That's what he does. And he sends Chimham. Verse 38. Verse 38. And the king answered, Chimham shall go over with me and I will do for him whatever seems good to you.And all that you desire for me, I will do for you. Also, I know our church family usually has quite a few pregnant ladies in it. Chimham, baby name. Boy or girl. Kim or Ham for short. There you go.All right. That's not helpful. Verse 39. Then all the people went over the Jordan and the king went over and the king kissed Barzillai and blessed him. And he returned to his own home. The king went on to Gilgal and Chimham went on with him.And all the people of Judah and also the half the people of Israel brought the king on his way. That's where we're going to stop in our text this morning. And I think in considering Barzillai and his relationship to David, I think one of the things that we need to realize is that when a king comes into his kingdom, he blesses and grants rewards. It's a thing that a king does. And we're told that Jesus does the same thing. Now, it's interesting here because Chimham receives the blessing that he didn't earn.And there's a part of that that's us. That we get the blessing of Christ. We get the righteousness of Christ. We get what Christ has accomplished for us. That that is what actually saves us is the work of Jesus. But also that a king would see those who had served him and bless them and reward them is a thing that the Bible also tells us happens.Jesus tells a parable, the same kind of parable framework over and over where he says there's a master who leaves. And he places people in charge. And when he returns and then he always has this master returning. And sometimes when he returns, they're doing what they're supposed to. And he says, it's great. The master says, well done, good and faithful servant.He says, it's good that the master finds them awake when he returns. No matter when he returns, that they're ready. Sometimes the master returns and they're not ready. They haven't been doing what they're supposed to be doing. And it goes very poorly for them. They're cast out.They're destroyed. Some stories they're torn to pieces. And there's this promise of reward. There's a promise of a returning king who we're supposed to be faithful and at work when he comes back. And it's interesting. If you consider what Barzillai did.Barzillai was wealthy. And he provided for David in the wilderness. He provided for David while he was at Mahanaim. He provided for him while he was in the wilderness. And if you consider your life as a Christian. We've been given gifts.And we're in the wilderness. We're surrounded by people who are in need. Some of that's monetary. Some of that's physical. That we're supposed to be people who care for other people. That all the things that you have aren't meant to terminate on you.But you're supposed to give of your wealth. Of your resources to care and provide for other people. But some of it is like spiritual gifts. Joy. Do you know that you have a wealth of joy that's accessible by you? Because of Christ.That you should share with other people. In a culture where people go yeah they're too hard to deal with. Being around them makes me sad. Well we have a hope that's in Christ. That's not circumstantial. Christians should go into those situations.You should go share some of your joy with somebody. Because you can have yours replenished by Christ. You should go share some of your love with somebody. There are lonely people around you. My family was recently on vacation. And there's other people that came with their child.And were like hey we're going to hang out with y'all. And I had to pray. Because I don't want to hang out with them. I did not come to the beach to make friends with new people and their children. And I had to be like Lord help me. Because maybe I came to the beach to make new friends with people and their children.I need to care for people. And I don't know if I navigated that well. I did have to ask for help. I had to tell my sons hey I know that this isn't what. My son stared at him like. What on earth is happening?I had to be like say hello. That's a human. But they got it from me. Because they just aren't good at acting. I was like hey. And I wanted to just be doing the same thing.Like you've misread the situation. You picked the wrong people. We are not friendly. But I had to ask for help. Because the reality is we can welcome and care and love and give. We should.And we have Barzillai who's faithful. And the king sees it and says I want to reward that. And we have a king who's going to return. And we should be at work when he does. We should be loving and caring and praying and laboring when he does. We should be putting effort towards things that matter when he does.So I think. As we consider. Different individuals who knew that David was coming. And responded in different ways. I think we should ask. Do I see my sin?Do I know I need forgiveness? I think we should ask. Do I see brokenness in the world? Do I know that I'm not at home here? Do I feel too comfortable here? Or do I know I'm a citizen of a future kingdom?And I think we should ask. Am I faithful? Am I doing what I'm supposed to be doing? I want to finish by considering. Second Peter chapter three. It'll be on the screen.We read a bit of this earlier. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise. As some count slowness. That's his promise to return. But it's patient toward you.Not wishing that any should perish. But that all should reach repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. Meaning we won't be ready for it. Jesus says. If the master of the house had known.When the thief was coming. He'd have been ready. But you don't know when the thief is coming. Then he says. So be ready.Be awake. Be alert. Meaning he could come at any point. He told them that in the first century. He's going to return. At a time they don't expect.And I know. If you get on the internet. There's a whole lot of people telling you. The signs have gotten more signy lately. Okay. But he can come whenever he wants to.And if they're telling you. It's more likely now. It is. Because he didn't come yesterday. So it's more likely today.Every day we move forward. It's more likely. He can return whenever he wants. And we're not waiting for some specific thing. That's got to happen. We're waiting for him.And he returns when he wants. But he's going to come like a thief. It says there'll be people still being. There's still going to be things on the calendar. There's still going to be good plans. That people have to do good things.People are going to be engaged. And waiting to get married. That's going to happen. And he's going to return. There's also going to be evil people. Plotting evil things.And they're not going to get to fulfill it. Because he's going to return. There's going to be all these plans at work. All these negotiations. All these things that are happening. These businesses that are going to merge.And these people who are going to do this. And a trip you're going to take. And then he's going to return. Like a thief. And then the heavens will pass away with a roar. And the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved.And the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. Everything will be laid bare. Since all these things are thus to be dissolved. What sort of people ought you to be. In lives of holiness and godliness. He says none of this other stuff is going to make it.But we are. And faithfulness is. Holiness is. Godliness is. What sort of people should we be? Waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God.God. When was the last time you sat and thought, I hope he hurries? When was the last time you sat and waited for it. Longed for it. Hastened it.Prayed, Lord, come on. When was the last time you said. Lord be patient. I want to see them. Repent.Oh Lord. If you could wait a little while. I'm trying. I'm praying. Lord. Can you save them?Can you rescue them? Are we living our life. Knowing that the master can return whenever he wants. But according to his promise. We are waiting for new heavens. And a new earth.In which righteousness dwells. Our good things are not here. But they are to come. If you belong to Jesus. And if you don't belong to Jesus. The offer of repentance.Is for you. That you might come to know him. But may God grant us to be people. Who wait for. And hasten the day of his return. And are ready.When he gets here. Let's pray. Lord we're thankful. That we have a better king. Than David. Who's going to return.And set everything right. We're thankful. We're thankful. That we have a better judge. We're thankful. That we have a hope.In you. And may we look forward. To our reward. May we see. What is to come. And to treasure it.And to value it. Above what we have. In front of us. Lord may your spirit. Help us. And may we daily.Wait. For you.In Jesus name. Amen.

King David's return to Jerusalem after Absalom's tragic rebellion reveals a difficult journey: crisis to restoration. Overwhelmed by the grief of losing a third child, David became a man of sorrows. Yet still extended mercy to former enemies, while discovering true loyalty from Mephibosheth and Barzillai. As he worked to rebuild national unity amid escalating tribal tensions, fresh rebellion came from Sheba. His painful journey mirrors our own need for restoration to God when we experience personal and spiritual brokenness. David would write "He restores my soul". [A few moments are missing from the beginning due to technical issues]

Join us each Sunday morning at 11am and Sunday evening at 6pm (BST).

Now it came to pass, when the wall was built, and I had set up the doors, and the porters and the singers and the Levites were appointed,2 That I gave my brother Hanani, and Hananiah the ruler of the palace, charge over Jerusalem: for he was a faithful man, and feared God above many.3 And I said unto them, Let not the gates of Jerusalem be opened until the sun be hot; and while they stand by, let them shut the doors, and bar them: and appoint watches of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, every one in his watch, and every one to be over against his house.4 Now the city was large and great: but the people were few therein, and the houses were not builded.5 And my God put into mine heart to gather together the nobles, and the rulers, and the people, that they might be reckoned by genealogy. And I found a register of the genealogy of them which came up at the first, and found written therein,6 These are the children of the province, that went up out of the captivity, of those that had been carried away, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away, and came again to Jerusalem and to Judah, every one unto his city;7 Who came with Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Nehemiah, Azariah, Raamiah, Nahamani, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispereth, Bigvai, Nehum, Baanah. The number, I say, of the men of the people of Israel was this;8 The children of Parosh, two thousand an hundred seventy and two.9 The children of Shephatiah, three hundred seventy and two.10 The children of Arah, six hundred fifty and two.11 The children of Pahathmoab, of the children of Jeshua and Joab, two thousand and eight hundred and eighteen.12 The children of Elam, a thousand two hundred fifty and four.13 The children of Zattu, eight hundred forty and five.14 The children of Zaccai, seven hundred and threescore.15 The children of Binnui, six hundred forty and eight.16 The children of Bebai, six hundred twenty and eight.17 The children of Azgad, two thousand three hundred twenty and two.18 The children of Adonikam, six hundred threescore and seven.19 The children of Bigvai, two thousand threescore and seven.20 The children of Adin, six hundred fifty and five.21 The children of Ater of Hezekiah, ninety and eight.22 The children of Hashum, three hundred twenty and eight.23 The children of Bezai, three hundred twenty and four.24 The children of Hariph, an hundred and twelve.25 The children of Gibeon, ninety and five.26 The men of Bethlehem and Netophah, an hundred fourscore and eight.27 The men of Anathoth, an hundred twenty and eight.28 The men of Bethazmaveth, forty and two.29 The men of Kirjathjearim, Chephirah, and Beeroth, seven hundred forty and three.30 The men of Ramah and Gaba, six hundred twenty and one.31 The men of Michmas, an hundred and twenty and two.32 The men of Bethel and Ai, an hundred twenty and three.33 The men of the other Nebo, fifty and two.34 The children of the other Elam, a thousand two hundred fifty and four.35 The children of Harim, three hundred and twenty.36 The children of Jericho, three hundred forty and five.37 The children of Lod, Hadid, and Ono, seven hundred twenty and one.38 The children of Senaah, three thousand nine hundred and thirty.39 The priests: the children of Jedaiah, of the house of Jeshua, nine hundred seventy and three.40 The children of Immer, a thousand fifty and two.41 The children of Pashur, a thousand two hundred forty and seven.42 The children of Harim, a thousand and seventeen.43 The Levites: the children of Jeshua, of Kadmiel, and of the children of Hodevah, seventy and four.44 The singers: the children of Asaph, an hundred forty and eight.45 The porters: the children of Shallum, the children of Ater, the children of Talmon, the children of Akkub, the children of Hatita, the children of Shobai, an hundred thirty and eight.46 The Nethinims: the children of Ziha, the children of Hashupha, the children of Tabbaoth,47 The children of Keros, the children of Sia, the children of Padon,48 The children of Lebana, the children of Hagaba, the children of Shalmai,49 The children of Hanan, the children of Giddel, the children of Gahar,50 The children of Reaiah, the children of Rezin, the children of Nekoda,51 The children of Gazzam, the children of Uzza, the children of Phaseah,52 The children of Besai, the children of Meunim, the children of Nephishesim,53 The children of Bakbuk, the children of Hakupha, the children of Harhur,54 The children of Bazlith, the children of Mehida, the children of Harsha,55 The children of Barkos, the children of Sisera, the children of Tamah,56 The children of Neziah, the children of Hatipha.57 The children of Solomon's servants: the children of Sotai, the children of Sophereth, the children of Perida,58 The children of Jaala, the children of Darkon, the children of Giddel,59 The children of Shephatiah, the children of Hattil, the children of Pochereth of Zebaim, the children of Amon.60 All the Nethinims, and the children of Solomon's servants, were three hundred ninety and two.61 And these were they which went up also from Telmelah, Telharesha, Cherub, Addon, and Immer: but they could not shew their father's house, nor their seed, whether they were of Israel.62 The children of Delaiah, the children of Tobiah, the children of Nekoda, six hundred forty and two.63 And of the priests: the children of Habaiah, the children of Koz, the children of Barzillai, which took one of the daughters of Barzillai the Gileadite to wife, and was called after their name.64 These sought their register among those that were reckoned by genealogy, but it was not found: therefore were they, as polluted, put from the priesthood.65 And the Tirshatha said unto them, that they should not eat of the most holy things, till there stood up a priest with Urim and Thummim.66 The whole congregation together was forty and two thousand three hundred and threescore,67 Beside their manservants and their maidservants, of whom there were seven thousand three hundred thirty and seven: and they had two hundred forty and five singing men and singing women.68 Their horses, seven hundred thirty and six: their mules, two hundred forty and five:69 Their camels, four hundred thirty and five: six thousand seven hundred and twenty asses.70 And some of the chief of the fathers gave unto the work. The Tirshatha gave to the treasure a thousand drams of gold, fifty basons, five hundred and thirty priests' garments.71 And some of the chief of the fathers gave to the treasure of the work twenty thousand drams of gold, and two thousand and two hundred pound of silver.72 And that which the rest of the people gave was twenty thousand drams of gold, and two thousand pound of silver, and threescore and seven priests' garments.73 So the priests, and the Levites, and the porters, and the singers, and some of the people, and the Nethinims, and all Israel, dwelt in their cities; and when the seventh month came, the children of Israel were in their cities.

In this Bible Story, the great reign of David came to a close. Now Solomon rules over Israel with wisdom, mercy, and justice. As his first act as king, Solomon takes care of those who were loyal to his father, and deals justly with those who betrayed him. This story is inspired by 1 Kings 2. Go to BibleinaYear.com and learn the Bible in a Year.Today's Bible verse is 1 Kings 2:45 from the King James Version.Episode 113: As David is dying, he calls in his son Solomon to bless him and speak God's promises over him. David instructs him on what he should do with Joab and Shimei and requests that he show kindness to Barzillai of Gilead. But Adonijah was not done trying for the throne. He made a request of Bathsheba that Solomon rightly discerned as a claim to the throne. And so as per their agreement, he was executed. Solomon sought to rule his kingdom in fairness and enacted punishments that showed mercy to those who deserved death.Hear the Bible come to life as Pastor Jack Graham leads you through the official BibleinaYear.com podcast. This Biblical Audio Experience will help you master wisdom from the world's greatest book. In each episode, you will learn to apply Biblical principles to everyday life. Now understanding the Bible is easier than ever before; enjoy a cinematic audio experience full of inspirational storytelling, orchestral music, and profound commentary from world-renowned Pastor Jack Graham.Also, you can download the Pray.com app for more Christian content, including, Daily Prayers, Inspirational Testimonies, and Bedtime Bible Stories.Visit JackGraham.org for more resources on how to tap into God's power for successful Christian living.Pray.com is the digital destination of faith. With over 5,000 daily prayers, meditations, bedtime stories, and cinematic stories inspired by the Bible, the Pray.com app has everything you need to keep your focus on the Lord. Make Prayer a priority and download the #1 App for Prayer and Sleep today in the Apple app store or Google Play store.Executive Producers: Steve Gatena & Max BardProducer: Ben GammonHosted by: Pastor Jack GrahamMusic by: Andrew Morgan SmithBible Story narration by: Todd Haberkorn Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Group Guide Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week. 2 Samuel 16:15-17:29 Spencer Cary Download TranscriptMy name is Spencer and I am one of the pastors here. We are going to be in 2 Samuel chapter 16. We're going to go all the way through chapter 17 today. So, if you have a Bible around you, those black Bibles, you can grab one of those. We're going on page 306. and most of the text or all of this text will be on in those Bibles. We'll have some text on the screen as well. I'll try to cue when that comes up, but you can go ahead and follow along there. I've been following Jesus for 20 years at this point.And there are times when you follow Jesus long enough that just feel really dark. whether that's for suffering, whether that's affliction, sadness, all types of things that come upon us. But there are times where it just feels very very dark. But like the words we just sang, when darkness seems to hide his face, as the original hymn said, when darkness veils his lovely face. It's just this idea that if you follow God long enough, you're going to have times where you just don't feel the presence of God. you don't feel his goodness. And then when that happens, there are questions that begin to linger.Does God love me? Is he for me? Does he care about me? And those questions can linger in a way and surface and sometimes resurface when we are going through times that are difficult, when we're traveling through times that are very dark. Man, if you follow Christ long enough, that's that's going to happen. the reality of following Jesus this side of the fall. But then there are moments there are moments where God in the middle of darkness and his kindness breaks through. And it doesn't always mean that your circumstances get better. But in the middle of suffering, in the middle of what feels like hopelessness, God meets us in some wonderful and powerful ways.And that is the experience that all of God's people feel in the lifetime, the marathon of following Jesus. And maybe that's you right now. Maybe that maybe that's where you're at. That you just feel darkness and all the things that come with that we just talked about. And if that is you, and certainly for all of us, it will be us at some point. If that is you, then this part of the story of David is actually going to be, I think, wildly encouraging because David's been in it. We have I mean it's like week after week as we're following his story right now. He's living in the aftermath of his sin against Bathsheba and Uriah and he's dealing with the discipline of the Lord and it just feels unrelenting.But today, we're going to see that in the middle of all of this darkness that he's walking through, we're going to see God shine through like like a like like in a really difficult storm, like a light that just pierces through. We're going to see some hope that's found in that. And then as we look at this as Christians, we'll be able to take a step back and see that this is the hope that he has for us as well. So, I'm going to pray for us and then we're going to work through the story together. Heavenly Father, I thank you for the good news of the gospel that we just got to read, sing, and pray.I pray that you would help us as we seek to understand who you are even as we encounter the sufferings of this present life. So may you give us ears to hear in Jesus' name. Amen. All right. All right. So, before we jump into verse 15, let's recap a little bit where Mike took us last week. Absalom, the son of David, has been leading to this point a very successful rebellion, a civil war against his father, King David. And David has fled Jerusalem. Absalom has entered Jerusalem, is set up on the throne. And now Absalom is seeking to establish his reign. Picking up in verse 15. Now Absalom and all the people, the men of Israel came to Jerusalem and Ahithophel with him. Okay? So Absalom has a party of men of followers of leaders and it's going to be referred to as the men of Israel. And the most prominentfigure in that party is a man named Ahithophel. Ahithophel is a counselor to the king. He was a counselor to David. He was someone that David brought in to give wise counsel and advice. But now he's betrayed David and he's joined his son in this rebellion. And we don't really know why. Some have theorized that Ahithophel that when you follow his line, he has a son named Iliam. And that that might be the same Iliam that is the father of Bathsheba. That this might be the grandfather of Bathsheba and that he's exacting some type of revenge against David here. We don't know that to be true, but he has betrayed David and now he's joined in with Absalom and he's giving counsel to him. But he's not the only one seeking to give counsel to this new king. Verse 16.And when Hushai the Archite, David's friend, came to Absalom, Hushai said to Absalom, "Long live the king." Long live the king. Okay, we'll pause there. There are a lot of names as we're going to see in the story today. There's a lot of names last week, so some of this stuff is hard to track. But if you remember back from last week, Hushai is a spy that David has sent to disrupt Ahithophel. So in 2 Samuel 15, what we read last week in verse 34, this will be on the screen. It says, "But if you return to the city and say to Absalom, I will be your servant, O king, as I've been your father's servant in time past, so now I will be your servant. Then you will defeat for me the counsel of Ahithophel." This is David sending in Hushai to defeat the counsel of Ahithophel, which he knows is going to be veryhelpful to Absalom. And then in verse 37 it says, "So Hushai, David's friend, came into the city just as Absalom was entering Jerusalem." So that's what's happened here. He has sent he sent Hushai in to be rival counsel to Ahithophel to disrupt all of this. And Hushai, who's playing the part of double agent quite well, comes in immediately and says, "Long live the king."Now Absalom may be pretty but he's not that stupid because he knows that Hushai is a friend to David. So he responds verse 17. And Absalom said to Hushai, "Is this your loyalty to your friend? Why did you not go with your friend?" And Hushai said to Absalom, "No, for whom the Lord and this people and all that the men of Israel have chosen, his I will be, and with him I will remain. And again, whom should I serve? Should it not be his son? As I have served your father, so I will serve you." So Absalom says, " don't you like play golf with my dad?Like, aren't y'all boys? What's happening here? Why are you where why are you here?" And he's like, "No, no, no, no, no, no, no. I play golf with whoever sits on the throne. I'm for the position, not the man. And the Lord is with you and the people are with you. So I am with you. So I'm here to help you. And it's great. You're David's son. You're the next. So he plays the part of double agent quite well. He doesn't get immediately thrown out. The question is, is he going to be able to keep his cover as he's trying to infiltrate his way into Absalom's influence? Verse 20, then Absalom said to Ahithophel, "Give your counsel. What shall we do?" So he's looking to what's my next move is now that I've established my place in Jerusalem. And Ahithophel in verse 21 said to Absalom, "Go into your father's concubines whom he has left to keep thehouse and all Israel will hear that you've made yourself a stench to your father and the hands of all who are with you will be strengthened." Okay, that is a diabolical plan. All right, for a variety of reasons. First, this is a egregious sin. This is an egregious violation of the law. Leviticus 20:11 prohibits this. It gives the death penalty for anyone who will lay with his father's wife. And though concubines were seen as lesser status wives in the reign of the kings, they still are wives of the king. So what Ahithophel has recommended is a wicked and gross violation of the law. But as far as evil plans go in and its most brilliant base form, it's smart. From a worldly perspective, from a godless perspective, this is a massive power play. This is his way to show all the rebels that are fighting for him that I mean business.So it's wicked and it's evil and it's vile and it's obscene, but also it's very cunning. So Ahithophel gives him this counsel and Absalom listens. Verse 22. So they pitch a tent for Absalom on the roof. And Absalom went into his father's concubines in the sight of all Israel.Now in those days the counsel that Ahithophel gave was as if one consulted the word of God. So was all the counsel of Ahithophel esteemed both by David and by Absalom. And that's a way of saying that Ahithophel's counsel was so valued. It was like hearing the word of God. Meaning that the word of God says this, you do it. Ahithophel says this, you do it. And he recommends this rebellious, cunning, and wicked act. And Absalom does it. And they pitch a tent. And they work out this plan in front of all of Israel. But this is also fulfilling the prophecy of Nathan after David sinned with Bathsheba and murdering Uriah. For Nathan the prophet in 2 Samuel 12 will be on the screen. It says, "Thus says the Lord, behold, I will raise up evil against you out of your own house, and I will take your wives before your eyes and givethem to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of the sun. for you did it secretly, but I will do this before this thing before all Israel and before the sun. So God gives up Absalom to his own sinful desires. And this brings judgment upon David and his house. And Ahithophel's counsel is followed. And he makes himself a stench to David and his followers. Now he's got more counsel to give becausenow they've got to reckon with David himself. And this is where we're going to see rival counselors Ahithophel and then Hushai is going to come into the scene and both of them function like the cabinet of the king. Right? So if you follow US history every US president has a cabinet and if you follow some of the biggest battles that have happened between these cabinet members. These are counselors to the king. The biggest one is is the original cabinet. So in Washington's presidency, he had Jefferson and then he had Hamilton. And both of them represented two very different political philosophies. That's why he put them in the counsel in the first place in the cabinet because he wanted to see two rival philosophies go at it, which didn't work out very well. They actually ended up forming two different political parties that came out of that. But if you follow theythey've written all this down. If you follow some of the history of how they fought, there were times where Hamilton would go on these 45minute monologues. He just go on and on and on and on and on and on and on and it's and this recorded that Jefferson would just be like head back just like just so annoying. And then there are times where Jefferson would win the day and he would get the influence of Washington and it's recorded that he would like sneer and like make faces at Hamilton, which is just funny because these are our founding fathers. of the people that helped found this nation and we can all act like children in our own sinful state at times. But that's not abnormal.That's not just US history. That's ancient history. That's happened for thousands of years that kings and presidents and prime ministers and sovereign leaders, they have counsel that they bring in often to oppose one another to find what is the best way forward. So what we're going to see is that type of cabinet battle here starting in verse one of chapter 17. Moreover, Ahithophel said to Absalom, "Let me choose 12,000 men, and I will arise and pursue David tonight. I will come upon him while he is weary and discouraged and throw him into a panic, and all the people who are with him will flee. I will strike down only the king, and I will bring all the people back to you as a bride comes home to her husband. You seek the life of only one man and all the people will be at peace and the advice seemed right in the eyes ofAbsalom and all the elders of Israel. Okay. So Ahithophel's plan I'll be honest is very very good. This is a good plan. He says listen we have a standing army of 12,000 men tonight that we can ride out of here. In fact, I will lead this. I will lead. You can stay put. I'll lead these 12,000 men. And we're going to catch David because David's not just traveling with his warriors. He's also traveling with his wives and probably some of his children, but with some grandchildren. He's got and they're tired and they're discouraged and they're weary. And he says, "You know what's going to happen?We're going to come upon them. It's going to be like lightning warfare. Boom. We're going to come in quick. And then all we have to do is cut off the head of the snake. All we have to do is take out David. There won't be lots of bloodshed. Only one man has to die. And then guess what? You're good. There's no more threat. Everyone gets behind you and you're the king. Now, that's an objectively good plan. All the commentators, everyone's looked at this and said, "That's a smart way to do this." And they hear it and they say, "Absalom likes this. The elders who are sitting in counsel like this." Now seems to be happening here is you got Absalom with a counsel of elders. Ahithophel comes in he makes his pitch and they like it and then he exits. Then verse 5, then Absalom said call Hushai the Architealso and let us hear what he has to say. So Ahithophel leaves Hushai comes in and now Hushai has to follow up a very very good plan. And that's difficult because if you have to outdo a very very good plan, you it's hard. If someone said, you know what, you're going to have to out-pitch ice cream as the staple dessert. That's a hard thing to do. You know why? Because ice cream is amazing. The fact that you can take the best part of milk, which is cream, and slowly turn it to where it's not so hard where it's just like ice, and it's not too soft that it's just this perfectly formed. and you could throw chocolate in it and all types of things. The person who pitches that idea originally, that's a good pitch. It's for you to come in and try to pitch something else. Unless milkhates you, it's a pretty good dessert. So that's what's that's happening here. Hushai is has to come in. He's going to outdo a very very good plan. Verse six. When Hushai came to Absalom, Absalom said to him, "Thus has Ahithophel spoken. Shall we do what shall we do as he says? If not, you speak." So they tell him, "This is Ahithophel's plan. Should we do what he says?" Verse 7. Then Hushai said to Absalom, This time the counsel that Ahithophel has given is not good, which I so appreciate as the opener to what we're about to read as a monologue because it's like Ahithophel has chosen poorly. Like, this is just no. It's the equivalent of Trump just saying wrong when someone says something it's just no immediately we're diverging this is not a good plan so then he starts to pitch his plan first by poisoning thewell of Ahithophel's plan verse eight said you know that your father and his men are mighty men and that they are enraged like a bear robbed of her cubs in the field. Besides, your father is an expert in war. He will not spend the night with the people. Behold, even now he has hidden himself in one of the pits or in some other place. And as soon as some of the people fall at the first attack, whoever hears this, hears it will say, "There has been a slaughter among the people who follow Absalom." Then even the valiant men whose heart is like the heart of a lion will utterly melt with fear. For all Israel knows that your father is a mighty man and those who are with him are valiant men. All right, pause.Hushai basically chooses fear. He chooses fear, which I don't know if you've been bombarded with the most obnoxious political ads that have been ra running right now, but all of them, 95% of them are fear-based because fear is effective. So, he chooses fear. He says, "You ever seen a bear robbed of her cubs? It's not good. You don't want to get in the middle of that." And he's enraged. They're furious. They're very upset with you, Absalom. So, I know you're thinking, "We've got the numbers. We've got 12,000 men. We can catch them off guard. First off, no you won't. You think David is stupid? He's hiding. He's off. You remember how you used to be hiding in the caves all the time? You think you're going to find him easily cut off the head of the snake? No. No.No. You He's not with his people. You're about to enter a hornets's nest. And let me tell you something. This is what he does. He says he says, "Your men, they've got strong hearts. Some of them courageous like lions. But the moment they start taking L's on the battlefield, the moment they start getting slaughtered, it's going to spread like wildfire. And everyone knows that David and his mighty men are bad. And that is 100% true. I mean, you look at some of their resumes, they are bad to the bone. And he says the moment that they start hearing that people are getting slaughtered, your men'll run.Seeing them not super courageous once they start getting defeated, that's a bad plan. So that's how Hushai begins. He poisons the well with fear. Okay. Now that he's poisoned it, he's going to shift to his plan. Verse 11. But my counsel is that all Israel be gathered to you from Dan to Beersheba as the sand by the sea for multitude, and that you go to battle in person. So we shall come upon him in some place where he is to be found and we shall light upon him as dew falls on the ground and of him and all the men who are with him not one will be left. If he withdraws into a city then all Israel will bring ropes to that city. We shall drag it into the valley until not even a pebble is to be found there.Okay. So what Hushai just did is he is wisely buying time. That's what he's doing. Ahithophel's plan is quick. That night he says, "No, no, no, no, no, no, no. You don't want that. Already talked about this. This is this this is going to go wrong for you. Also, Ahithophel's super old. You want him leading you to battle?" No. Here's what's going to happen. We're going to slow it down. We're going to go from Dan to Beersheba, which is basically from north to south. Think Maine to Florida. Okay? We're going to gather all the people of Israel, not 12,000 men, hundreds of thousands of men. We're going to get all of them in our side. that we're going to find David and we're going to surround him. He doesn't matter how mighty his men are, we will have numbers upon numbers upon numbers. And then once we surround him, we're going to win. And ifsomehow he escapes and he makes it to a city where there's where there's walls, guess what? We'll have so many people we'll take ropes, throw it over the wall, rip the walls down, bring all the pebbles into the valley, and guess what? We'll kill every single one of them. That's the option. That's the one you should choose. It's guaranteed. It's going to take some time. But let me tell you something. You don't want to go out without the numbers. That is Hushai's plan. And you've got these two different plans. One, which still, I'll be honest, is way better. Very quick. 12,000 men coming upon them as they've been running. They've got women and children with them. Boom. Kill David. Done. or Hushai's plan which is long drawn out buying time.What are you going to choose? Both are given. Verse 14. And Absalom and all the men of Israel said, "The counsel of Hushai the Archite is better than the counsel of Ahithophel. For the Lord had ordained to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel so that the Lord might bring harm upon Absalom. So they choose Hushai's plan. And what we see in this is this is what David prayed for. If you remember back in 2 Samuel 15:31, it says, "And David said this on the screen." Oh Lord, please turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness. He prays this and God answers this prayer. For it says, "The Lord had ordained to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel so the Lord might bring harm upon Absalom." David's prayer is answered because ultimately God is going to bring judgment upon Absalom for his wickedness and his rebellion against David, the Lord's anointed king.So while that's happening, Hushai seemingly he's out of the room. So he's left the room. They're in here discussing this and they are making the decision that Hushai's plan is very very good. Hushai outside the room is now not going to wait to see what happens next because he heard Ahithophel's plan and that's a good plan. So he has got to get a word to David because David is exactly where Ahithophel said he would be. He's out in the open. He's not hiding. So that was all smoke and mirrors and he's got to get word to David in case Ahithophel's plan is taken. And that's what we pick up in verse 15. Then Hushai said to Zadok and Abiathar the priest. Okay, we got a lot of names here. Stay with me. Zadok and Abiathar are priests, Levitical priests that were loyal to David. So Hushai said to Zadok and Abiathar, the priest,thus and so did Ahithophel's counsel, Ahithophel counsel, Absalom and the elders of Israel. And thus and so have I counseled. Now therefore send quickly and tell David do not stay tonight at the fords of the wilderness but by all means pass over lest the king and all the people who are with him be swallowed up. So he says you've got to leave now. If they follow Ahithophel's plan they're going to catch you. You've got to get out of town. You got to get out of the wilderness. You got to get away as far as you can. So that's the word they give to Zadok and Abiathar. Verse 17. Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz were waiting at En-rogel. Okay. Jonathan and Ahimaaz are sons of Zadok and Abiathar. They are Levitical priests as well. And they're waiting at En-rogel which is just outside of Jerusalem. And it says a femaleservant was to go and tell them. And they were to go and tell King David for they were not to be seen entering the city. So what we have here is a chain of spies. One to the next to the next to the next to get to David. so that David and his crew can leave and flee danger. But verse 18, the young man saw them and told Absalom. So both of them went away quickly and came to the house at a man at Bahurim who had who had a well in his courtyard. And they went down into it. And the woman took and spread a covering over the well's mouth and scattered grain on it, and nothing was known of it. So while they're trying to get the message out, one of Absalom's men sees what happens. So they go, they hide in a well and then the woman very smartly spreadscovering over the well, puts grain on top of it, very much like Rahab and the spies in Jericho and hides them so that they can evade capture. Verse 20. When Absalom's servants came to the woman of the house, they said, "Where is Ahimaaz and Jonathan?" And the woman said to them, "They have gone over the brook of water." And when they had sought and could not find them, they returned to Jerusalem. So they successfully evade capture. Verse 21. After they had gone, the men came up out of the well and went and told King David. They said to David, "Arise and go quickly over the water, for thus and so has Ahithophel counseled against you."Then David arose and all the people who were with them, and they crossed the Jordan. By daybreak, not one was left who had not crossed the Jordan. So chain of spies works. They cross and guess what? They didn't even need to because Hushai's plan won. And Ahithophel's plan was defeated because God has determined to bring his judgment upon Absalom. And that plan is now in full effect. And Ahithophel cannot handle the defeat of this rival counselor. Verse 23. When Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed, he saddled his donkey and went off home to his own city. He set his house in order and hanged himself and he died and was buried in the tomb of his father. Now, it's possible that Ahithophel was so poisoned by his own pride and self-worth and his own great advice, his own great counsel that the moment that he's defeated, he can't handle it and hecommits suicide. It is also possible that at this point he may see the writing on the wall and that David is actually going to win this war and he'd rather take care of it himself as opposed to falling to David's sword. We don't know for sure. I lean towards the former. I think the text more I think pushes in that direction that when he says his counsel was not followed I think what's bound up in here is pride which just for the moment is a very good case study and a warning sign to anyone who puts their worth and their value and their work and their abilities and their talents and what they do. Because if you put so much value into those things and those things are taken from you, what you've done is you've set up an idol to worship. And when that idol is taken, it can lead you to some very dark places.And what this serves as is a cautionary tale to be mindful of not putting so much of your value and your worship and the things that you do because that's what I think Ahithophel does. And when his counsel is not followed because of his shame, he goes and takes his life.So let's finish out the chapter verse 24. Then David came to Mahanaim and Absalom crossed the Jordan with all the men of Israel. Now Absalom had set Amasa over the army instead of Joab. Amasa was the son of a man named Ithra the Ishmaelite who had married Abigail, the daughter of Nahash, the sister of Zeruiah, Joab's mother. and Israel and Absalom encamped in the land of Gilead. Verse 27. When David came to Mahanaim, Shobi the son of Nahash from Rabbah of the Ammonites and Machir the son of Ammiel from Lo-debar and Barzillai the Gileadite from Rogelim brought beds, basins and earthen vessels, wheat, barley, flour, parched, beans and lentils, honey and curds and sheep, and cheese from the herd. for David and the people with him to eat. For they said the people are hungry and weary and thirsty in the wilderness.The chapter ends with even though they're in the wilderness and even though they're on the run for their lives and even though it seems like things are going against them, God still cares and raises a people to provide provisions for them in the wilderness. And that closes chapter 17 to set up next week which we will see is the great battle between Absalom's men and David's men.Okay. So, if you've been with us the last few weeks, if you study this just in its immediate context, it's very hard to see the light in all of this darkness because we've seen so much of it. At this point, David has suffered for years under the discipline of God. He's watched his family be torn apart. He's watched his nation be torn apart. He's had to deal with the emotional agony of his own son leading a rebellion against him to murder him. I mean, he it's all these chapters, it's dark. And in the middle of all this darkness, in the middle of all this brokenness, in the middle of all of this pain and suffering, is a reminder that God is still for David.Because what commentators will say is that in all these chapters of suffering, right in the middle in verse 14 of chapter 17 is this shining light that breaks through the storm. So it says, "For the Lord had ordained to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel, so that the Lord might bring harm upon Absalom." And that right there is the glimmer of hope that the wickedness and the evil, the dishonor of his father, the dishonor of his nation, the dishonor of his God, Absalom will be judged. and that the covenant that God made with David is remembered. Does David deserve to have favor? Absolutely not. Does God remember his covenant of favor towards David?Absolutely. That no matter how dark it has gotten, no matter how bad has gotten for David, God remembers his covenant to him. God remembers his covenant to his people. That is the glimpse of light that breaks through the storm of all of this darkness that we're reading. And as you take a step back as a Christian, it is a helpful reminder for us because we I think also we forget this because we will go through seasons of intense present darkness, of suffering, of affliction. And in the middle of all of the suffering, in the middle of the affliction, in the middle of all of it, those questions can linger. Is God for me?Does he care about me? Does he love me? Because it doesn't feel like it right now. If you follow Jesus long enough, you will have been there. And the good news is we don't just have the scriptures that testify to how God meets his people in the middle of darkness. We also have wonderful stories from church history. In the modern missions movement in the 19th century, there's a lot of missionaries that went out to parts of the world that were very difficult to reach and very difficult to reach with the gospel. One of them was named John Paton. John Paton was a missionary.Him and his wife, they went to the island of the New Hebrides Islands in the 19th century. It's an island that had zero Christians, had tribes that were cannibals. And he arrived on the island then not long after arriving there, his wife died. And then their infant son also died. And in his autobiography he says, "Then in a moment altogether unexpectedly, she died on March 3rd to crown my sorrows and complete my loneliness, the dear baby boy whom we had named after her father, Peter Robert Robson, was taken from me after one week's sickness on the 20th of March.Let those who have ever passed through any similar darkness as a midnight field for me, as for all others, it would be more than vain to try to paint my sorrows. And he just says that after losing his wife, after losing his son, after being obedient to the Great Commission to go and make disciples of nations that did not know him, that he felt such an intense loneliness it would be vain to try to paint and describe his sorrows. So he dug two graves with his hands and buried his wife and buried his son. and he's alone on an island with people who are trying to kill him.And this is what he writes. I'll put this on the screen. Stunned by that dreadful loss and entering upon this field of labor to which the Lord had himself so evidently led me, my reason seemed for a time almost to give way. The ever merciful Lord sustained me. But for Jesus and the fellowship he vouchsafed to me there, I must have gone mad and died beside that lonely grave. And it's such a wonderful reminder that even in the darkest of moments, even when all hope seems lost, even as he's buried his wife and his son and he's alone on an island under the threat of death, that in the intense darkness that he faced, Jesus Christ came. He says, "The ever merciful Lord sustained me. but for Jesus and the fellowship vouchsafed to me there, he says without it I would have gone mad beside that lonely grave and that story in some versions happenedover and over and over again and he continued and now that island for centuries at this point was converted to Jesus and has a legacy of Christ but God's people sometimes go through intense bouts of suffering I don't think any of us have ever faced anything like that. But in the middle of darkness, in the middle of complete what seems like hopelessness, God shines through to his people. And the reason he does this is because when he saves you and redeems you and seals you with the Holy Spirit, he never leaves or forsakes us. He is for us. And even though darkness may seem like it's prevailing, even though hope may seem like it is lost, even though it feels so sad and lonely, God is for you if you belong to him. He is for your good. It may not seem like it and he may not answer you with the circumstantialchange that you want, but God breaks through to his people. I don't know why some of you have suffered in the way that you have. I don't know why you feel the way that you do, but I do know that if you belong to Jesus Christ, he is with you. And my hope and my prayer is that you would sense it just like Paton did. That he would break through. That you would sense it just like David did and be reminded that just as David had a covenant that was made with him, we because we belong to Jesus Christ have a covenant that was made with us by his blood. that when Jesus Christ goes to the cross and sheds blood for our sin and then captures us and brings us into the family of God, that covenant is remembered and it is never forgotten that our God is for you. And wecelebrate that regularly and remember that as we come to the table. George is going to come up and we're going to prepare to take the Lord's Supper, which is a meal of remembrance that Jesus instituted and gave to the church. On the night that he was betrayed, he took bread and he broke it. He said, "This is my body that was broken for you." And then he took the cup of the new covenant. He said, "This is my blood that was shed for you that as often as you eat and drink this, you proclaim my death until I return." And Jesus gives us that meal to remember the covenant that was made with his blood.That God loves you so much that he gave up his one and only son. that you even in this life that is filled sometimes with suffering and darkness would persevere by faith trusting in the finished work of Christ and finding those moments where God encounters us with his presence and breaks through the dark questions that linger in our soul looking forward to a day when there will be no more questions like that because there will be no more suffering or sin or brokenness. There will only be him in eternity. So as a Christian you get to come to the table remembering the work of Jesus Christ as a reminder as a memorial as remembrance that he is for you. Even if it doesn't feel like it right now he is.So may you prepare your hearts and then in a moment you can come to the table. There's gluten-free at that table back there. If you do not belong to Jesus Christ, we don't want you to come to the table. We want you to come to Jesus. We want you to place your faith in him. We want you to see what it is like to walk with a God who loves you so deeply that he gave himself for you.And the invitation is for you to follow Christ. And if you want to know more about that, find me, find another pastor, find a Christian who brought you here today, and we can show you what it means to follow Jesus Christ. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, I pray that you might prepare our hearts to receive this meal of remembrance. God, I pray that you might help us, especially those of us that belong to you that are right now feeling so hopeless, feeling such darkness as so many of your people have done and felt. God, I pray that you would as they take this meal, would you break through the darkness, would you help them see that you love them, that you're for them, that they belong to you, that they're treasured by you.May they remember who you are. And for those who do not belong to you, I pray, God that you would compel them to faith in you this morning. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. Come when you are ready.

Most people have never heard of Barzillai, yet his story offers a powerful picture of faithful endurance. In this episode, Pastor Larry Loewen and Noah Quiring continue our *Hidden Figures* series by examining the life of Barzillai, a man who served King David with generosity, loyalty, and humility. Rather than seeking influence or recognition, Barzillai focused on what mattered most—faithfulness to God and care for others. Through his example, we are invited to reflect on our own legacy and consider what it means to finish the race of faith well. Whether you're in a season of leadership, service, transition, or reflection, this message will encourage you to keep following God faithfully to the very end.

Now these are the children of the province that went up out of the captivity, of those which had been carried away, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away unto Babylon, and came again unto Jerusalem and Judah, every one unto his city;2 Which came with Zerubbabel: Jeshua, Nehemiah, Seraiah, Reelaiah, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mizpar, Bigvai, Rehum, Baanah. The number of the men of the people of Israel:3 The children of Parosh, two thousand an hundred seventy and two.4 The children of Shephatiah, three hundred seventy and two.5 The children of Arah, seven hundred seventy and five.6 The children of Pahathmoab, of the children of Jeshua and Joab, two thousand eight hundred and twelve.7 The children of Elam, a thousand two hundred fifty and four.8 The children of Zattu, nine hundred forty and five.9 The children of Zaccai, seven hundred and threescore.10 The children of Bani, six hundred forty and two.11 The children of Bebai, six hundred twenty and three.12 The children of Azgad, a thousand two hundred twenty and two.13 The children of Adonikam, six hundred sixty and six.14 The children of Bigvai, two thousand fifty and six.15 The children of Adin, four hundred fifty and four.16 The children of Ater of Hezekiah, ninety and eight.17 The children of Bezai, three hundred twenty and three.18 The children of Jorah, an hundred and twelve.19 The children of Hashum, two hundred twenty and three.20 The children of Gibbar, ninety and five.21 The children of Bethlehem, an hundred twenty and three.22 The men of Netophah, fifty and six.23 The men of Anathoth, an hundred twenty and eight.24 The children of Azmaveth, forty and two.25 The children of Kirjatharim, Chephirah, and Beeroth, seven hundred and forty and three.26 The children of Ramah and Gaba, six hundred twenty and one.27 The men of Michmas, an hundred twenty and two.28 The men of Bethel and Ai, two hundred twenty and three.29 The children of Nebo, fifty and two.30 The children of Magbish, an hundred fifty and six.31 The children of the other Elam, a thousand two hundred fifty and four.32 The children of Harim, three hundred and twenty.33 The children of Lod, Hadid, and Ono, seven hundred twenty and five.34 The children of Jericho, three hundred forty and five.35 The children of Senaah, three thousand and six hundred and thirty.36 The priests: the children of Jedaiah, of the house of Jeshua, nine hundred seventy and three.37 The children of Immer, a thousand fifty and two.38 The children of Pashur, a thousand two hundred forty and seven.39 The children of Harim, a thousand and seventeen.40 The Levites: the children of Jeshua and Kadmiel, of the children of Hodaviah, seventy and four.41 The singers: the children of Asaph, an hundred twenty and eight.42 The children of the porters: the children of Shallum, the children of Ater, the children of Talmon, the children of Akkub, the children of Hatita, the children of Shobai, in all an hundred thirty and nine.43 The Nethinims: the children of Ziha, the children of Hasupha, the children of Tabbaoth,44 The children of Keros, the children of Siaha, the children of Padon,45 The children of Lebanah, the children of Hagabah, the children of Akkub,46 The children of Hagab, the children of Shalmai, the children of Hanan,47 The children of Giddel, the children of Gahar, the children of Reaiah,48 The children of Rezin, the children of Nekoda, the children of Gazzam,49 The children of Uzza, the children of Paseah, the children of Besai,50 The children of Asnah, the children of Mehunim, the children of Nephusim,51 The children of Bakbuk, the children of Hakupha, the children of Harhur,52 The children of Bazluth, the children of Mehida, the children of Harsha,53 The children of Barkos, the children of Sisera, the children of Thamah,54 The children of Neziah, the children of Hatipha.55 The children of Solomon's servants: the children of Sotai, the children of Sophereth, the children of Peruda,56 The children of Jaalah, the children of Darkon, the children of Giddel,57 The children of Shephatiah, the children of Hattil, the children of Pochereth of Zebaim, the children of Ami.58 All the Nethinims, and the children of Solomon's servants, were three hundred ninety and two.59 And these were they which went up from Telmelah, Telharsa, Cherub, Addan, and Immer: but they could not shew their father's house, and their seed, whether they were of Israel:60 The children of Delaiah, the children of Tobiah, the children of Nekoda, six hundred fifty and two.61 And of the children of the priests: the children of Habaiah, the children of Koz, the children of Barzillai; which took a wife of the daughters of Barzillai the Gileadite, and was called after their name:62 These sought their register among those that were reckoned by genealogy, but they were not found: therefore were they, as polluted, put from the priesthood.63 And the Tirshatha said unto them, that they should not eat of the most holy things, till there stood up a priest with Urim and with Thummim.64 The whole congregation together was forty and two thousand three hundred and threescore,65 Beside their servants and their maids, of whom there were seven thousand three hundred thirty and seven: and there were among them two hundred singing men and singing women.66 Their horses were seven hundred thirty and six; their mules, two hundred forty and five;67 Their camels, four hundred thirty and five; their asses, six thousand seven hundred and twenty.68 And some of the chief of the fathers, when they came to the house of the Lord which is at Jerusalem, offered freely for the house of God to set it up in his place:69 They gave after their ability unto the treasure of the work threescore and one thousand drams of gold, and five thousand pound of silver, and one hundred priests' garments.70 So the priests, and the Levites, and some of the people, and the singers, and the porters, and the Nethinims, dwelt in their cities, and all Israel in their cities.

In this episode of the Wisdom Calling podcast, we explore one of the most overlooked aspects of wise leadership: quiet faithfulness.As King David nears the end of his life in 1 Kings 1–2, his final conversations reveal timeless lessons about leadership, accountability, loyalty, discernment, and legacy. Rather than focusing on accomplishments or power, David highlights the importance of character, stewardship, and honoring the people who quietly carry the weight behind the scenes.We'll discuss:• Why accountability is an essential part of leadership• The danger of elevating loyalty over wisdom and character• How wise leaders build discerning teams—not merely comfortable ones• The overlooked significance of Barzillai's quiet faithfulness• Why visible success is often supported by invisible people• David's final framework for true prosperity and leadershipWhether you're a business owner, executive, pastor, ministry leader, entrepreneur, or professional seeking to lead with greater wisdom, this episode offers practical and biblical insight for cultivating healthier teams, stronger cultures, and more faithful leadership.You can order the devotionals at https://amzn.to/4h8zFe6 or https://wisdomcalling.orgFollow us on Instagram: @wisdomcallingnow

The weekly Sunday morning sermon delivered by Rev. James Wiles2 Samuel 21:5-14“They said to the king, “The man who consumed us and planned to destroy us, so that we should have no place in all the territory of Israel, let seven of his sons be given to us, so that we may hang them before the Lord at Gibeah of Saul, the chosen of the Lord.” And the king said, “I will give them.” But the king spared Mephibosheth, the son of Saul's son Jonathan, because of the oath of the Lord that was between them, between David and Jonathan the son of Saul. The king took the two sons of Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, whom she bore to Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth; and the five sons of Merab the daughter of Saul, whom she bore to Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite; and he gave them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them on the mountain before the Lord, and the seven of them perished together. They were put to death in the first days of harvest, at the beginning of barley harvest. Then Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth and spread it for herself on the rock, from the beginning of harvest until rain fell upon them from the heavens. And she did not allow the birds of the air to come upon them by day, or the beasts of the field by night. When David was told what Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul, had done, David went and took the bones of Saul and the bones of his son Jonathan from the men of Jabesh-gilead, who had stolen them from the public square of Beth-shan, where the Philistines had hanged them, on the day the Philistines killed Saul on Gilboa. And he brought up from there the bones of Saul and the bones of his son Jonathan; and they gathered the bones of those who were hanged. And they buried the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan in the land of Benjamin in Zela, in the tomb of Kish his father. And they did all that the king commanded. And after that God responded to the plea for the land.”1. Rizpah was a mother of example in her devotion.2. Rizpah was a mother of example in her demonstration.3. Rizpah was a mother of example in her dedication.www.huntsmbc.com

Ezra 2:20-70 New International Version 20 of Gibbar9521 the men of Bethlehem12322 of Netophah5623 of Anathoth12824 of Azmaveth4225 of Kiriath Jearim,[a] Kephirah and Beeroth74326 of Ramah and Geba62127 of Mikmash12228 of Bethel and Ai22329 of Nebo5230 of Magbish15631 of the other Elam1,25432 of Harim32033 of Lod, Hadid and Ono72534 of Jericho34535 of Senaah3,630 36 The priests: the descendants of Jedaiah (through the family of Jeshua)97337 of Immer1,05238 of Pashhur1,24739 of Harim1,017 40 The Levites: the descendants of Jeshua and Kadmiel (of the line of Hodaviah)74 41 The musicians: the descendants of Asaph128 42 The gatekeepers of the temple: the descendants ofShallum, Ater, Talmon,Akkub, Hatita and Shobai139 43 The temple servants: the descendants ofZiha, Hasupha, Tabbaoth,44 Keros, Siaha, Padon,45 Lebanah, Hagabah, Akkub,46 Hagab, Shalmai, Hanan,47 Giddel, Gahar, Reaiah,48 Rezin, Nekoda, Gazzam,49 Uzza, Paseah, Besai,50 Asnah, Meunim, Nephusim,51 Bakbuk, Hakupha, Harhur,52 Bazluth, Mehida, Harsha,53 Barkos, Sisera, Temah,54 Neziah and Hatipha 55 The descendants of the servants of Solomon: the descendants ofSotai, Hassophereth, Peruda,56 Jaala, Darkon, Giddel,57 Shephatiah, Hattil,Pokereth-Hazzebaim and Ami58 The temple servants and the descendants of the servants of Solomon392 59 The following came up from the towns of Tel Melah, Tel Harsha, Kerub, Addon and Immer, but they could not show that their families were descended from Israel: 60 The descendants ofDelaiah, Tobiah and Nekoda652 61 And from among the priests: The descendants ofHobaiah, Hakkoz and Barzillai (a man who had married a daughter of Barzillai the Gileadite and was called by that name). 62 These searched for their family records, but they could not find them and so were excluded from the priesthood as unclean. 63 The governor ordered them not to eat any of the most sacred food until there was a priest ministering with the Urim and Thummim. 64 The whole company numbered 42,360, 65 besides their 7,337 male and female slaves; and they also had 200 male and female singers. 66 They had 736 horses, 245 mules, 67 435 camels and 6,720 donkeys. 68 When they arrived at the house of the Lord in Jerusalem, some of the heads of the families gave freewill offerings toward the rebuilding of the house of God on its site. 69 According to their ability they gave to the treasury for this work 61,000 darics[b] of gold, 5,000 minas[c] of silver and 100 priestly garments. 70 The priests, the Levites, the musicians, the gatekeepers and the temple servants settled in their own towns, along with some of the other people, and the rest of the Israelites settled in their towns.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This message unlocks the reality that the rest of God is not passive, it is a position of power where faith governs speech and identity defines outcome. As the Word moves from head knowledge into the heart, confession becomes charged with authority and begins to shape reality. Righteousness in Christ is revealed as the foundation for strength, renewal, and dominion, while fear and doubt are exposed as the true source of exhaustion and limitation. Through the contrast of Caleb and Barzillai, a clear choice emerges between decline and sustained strength, between fear-driven speech and faith-filled confession. This is a call to step into divine rest, speak from conviction, and live from the finished work of Christ until every mountain yields.

Pastor Gerrit teaches verse-by-verse through 2 Samuel 19, focusing on David's return to the throne and the responses of those who helped bring back the king. This Bible teaching looks at David's restoration, the repentance of Shimei, the loyalty and contentment of Mephibosheth, and the generosity of Barzillai, highlighting themes of humility, mercy, gratitude, and faithful stewardship. As the chapter unfolds, Pastor Gerrit connects these events to the call to place Jesus on the throne of our hearts and to turn from the false kings that compete for our loyalty. The study also speaks to receiving correction, extending forgiveness, and finding contentment in the Lord rather than in His gifts. This verse-by-verse teaching through the life of David offers practical encouragement for daily surrender to Christ and a growing relationship with Him through clear Bible teaching.

Find the accompanying PowerPointHere. Barzillai's Message for the Young, by Donnie V. Rader. 2/15/2026 Sunday AM Sermon.

The sermon centers on the biblical example of Barzillai the Gileadite from 2 Samuel 19, using his life to illustrate three essential qualities for a godly marriage: unwavering care for God as the ultimate priority, a deliberate refusal to be a burden to one's spouse, and selfless concern for the other person's well-being. Drawing from Scripture, the preacher emphasizes that a strong marriage is rooted not in human effort or communication alone, but in spiritual devotion—when spouses prioritize their relationship with God, they naturally become more attentive, sacrificial, and loving toward each other. The message calls husbands and wives to embody the same selfless love seen in Barzillai, who, despite his age and ability to receive care, chose to serve others and even advocated for another to be honored, reflecting the heart of Christ. Ultimately, the sermon teaches that true marital greatness is not measured by personal comfort or convenience, but by spiritual maturity, mutual sacrifice, and a consistent focus on the needs of the other, all grounded in a life devoted to God.

Main Character Syndrome Can Get You Killed Subtitle: LARPING for Meaning Episode Summary Our culture is obsessed with being the hero. Everyone is told their life must be epic, visible, and historically significant. That lie is getting people killed. In this episode, Pastor Joseph Spurgeon dismantles “main character syndrome” and exposes how political activism, social media clout, and even distorted Christian teaching train people to abandon ordinary faithfulness for performative heroics. Using a recent fatal confrontation with ICE as a sobering case study, Joseph shows how LARPing moral drama replaces obedience, wisdom, and station. The heart of the episode centers on Barzillai from 2 Samuel 19. An old man. A wealthy man. A faithful man. Barzillai serves King David quietly, refuses reward, invests in the next generation, and disappears from the story without applause. Scripture honors him anyway. This episode is a call to reject theatrical Christianity, resist the craving for significance, and embrace the radical obedience of ordinary life. Faithfulness is not failure. Obscurity is not defeat. Jesus Christ is the main character. You are not. Chapter Breaks 00:00 Intro and Scripture Reading (2 Samuel 19:32)01:35 Barzillai vs the Cult of Visibility02:50 The Minnesota ICE Shooting and Moral LARPing07:40 Nazis, Comic Book Villains, and Fake Moral Courage11:20 Leaving Station and the Cost of Playing Hero13:45 Main Character Syndrome Defined18:30 How Social Media Trains Narcissism21:50 Barzillai’s Faithful Obscurity27:00 Hospitality, the Kingdom, and Quiet Service31:10 Refusing Reward and Investing in the Next Generation37:45 Ordinary Faithfulness Is How God Builds His Kingdom41:20 Encouragement for Middle-Aged Men49:50 Psalm 128 and the Blessing of Faithful Work53:00 Final Exhortation and Call to Share About the Show The Patriarchy Podcast features in-depth conversations on faith, culture, theology, and leadership. Each episode equips Christians to live boldly and biblically in an age of compromise, calling men to reject passivity and embrace responsibility. Support the Mission We are raising funds to expand Sovereign King Academy and keep tuition affordable for families.Give here: https://sovereignkingacademy.com Connect with The Patriarchy Podcast YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ThePatriarchyPodcastSpotify: https://tinyurl.com/58tm5zjzApple Podcasts: https://tinyurl.com/f3ruzrsaWebsite and All Links: https://linktr.ee/thepatriarchypodcast Follow Joseph SpurgeonFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/ThePatriarchyPodcastX: https://x.com/PatriarchyPodInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/thepatriarchypodcastGab: https://gab.com/thepatriarchypodcast Sponsored By Steadfast Cigars – For men who reject passivity and take dominionOrder: https://steadfastcigars.com Fit Father Project – Reclaim discipline. Get strong. Lead your family well.Start here: https://secure.fitfatherproject.com/a/transformation/4539 Books by Joseph SpurgeonIt’s Good to Be a Boy: https://a.co/d/7zpEh5DIt’s Good to Be a Girl: https://a.co/d/6VlBTzS Final Call to Action Subscribe for more conversations that sharpen men for battle.Turn on notifications so you never miss an episode.Like and share to support biblical masculinity.

Friday Bible Study (11/7/25) // Ezra 2: 41-70- (ESV) // The Exiles Return41 The singers: the sons of Asaph, 128. 42 The sons of the gatekeepers: the sons of Shallum, the sons of Ater, the sons of Talmon, the sons of Akkub, the sons of Hatita, and the sons of Shobai, in all 139.43 The temple servants: the sons of Ziha, the sons of Hasupha, the sons of Tabbaoth, 44 the sons of Keros, the sons of Siaha, the sons of Padon, 45 the sons of Lebanah, the sons of Hagabah, the sons of Akkub, 46 the sons of Hagab, the sons of Shamlai, the sons of Hanan, 47 the sons of Giddel, the sons of Gahar, the sons of Reaiah, 48 the sons of Rezin, the sons of Nekoda, the sons of Gazzam, 49 the sons of Uzza, the sons of Paseah, the sons of Besai, 50 the sons of Asnah, the sons of Meunim, the sons of Nephisim, 51 the sons of Bakbuk, the sons of Hakupha, the sons of Harhur, 52 the sons of Bazluth, the sons of Mehida, the sons of Harsha, 53 the sons of Barkos, the sons of Sisera, the sons of Temah, 54 the sons of Neziah, and the sons of Hatipha.55 The sons of Solomon's servants: the sons of Sotai, the sons of Hassophereth, the sons of Peruda, 56 the sons of Jaalah, the sons of Darkon, the sons of Giddel, 57 the sons of Shephatiah, the sons of Hattil, the sons of Pochereth-hazzebaim, and the sons of Ami.58 All the temple servants and the sons of Solomon's servants were 392.59 The following were those who came up from Tel-melah, Tel-harsha, Cherub, Addan, and Immer, though they could not prove their fathers' houses or their descent, whether they belonged to Israel: 60 the sons of Delaiah, the sons of Tobiah, and the sons of Nekoda, 652. 61 Also, of the sons of the priests: the sons of Habaiah, the sons of Hakkoz, and the sons of Barzillai (who had taken a wife from the daughters of Barzillai the Gileadite, and was called by their name). 62 These sought their registration among those enrolled in the genealogies, but they were not found there, and so they were excluded from the priesthood as unclean. 63 The governor told them that they were not to partake of the most holy food, until there should be a priest to consult Urim and Thummim.64 The whole assembly together was 42,360, 65 besides their male and female servants, of whom there were 7,337, and they had 200 male and female singers. 66 Their horses were 736, their mules were 245, 67 their camels were 435, and their donkeys were 6,720.68 Some of the heads of families, when they came to the house of the Lord that is in Jerusalem, made freewill offerings for the house of God, to erect it on its site. 69 According to their ability they gave to the treasury of the work 61,000 darics[a] of gold, 5,000 minas[b] of silver, and 100 priests' garments.70 Now the priests, the Levites, some of the people, the singers, the gatekeepers, and the temple servants lived in their towns, and all the rest of Israel[c] in their towns.Footnotesa. Ezra 2:69 A daric was a coin weighing about 1/4 ounce or 8.5 gramsb. Ezra 2:69 A mina was about 1 1/4 pounds or 0.6 kilogramc. Ezra 2:70 Hebrew all IsraelWebsite: ⁠https://mbchicago.org⁠ FOLLOW US Facebook: ⁠  / mbc.chicago  ⁠ Instagram: ⁠  / mbc.chicago  ⁠ TikTok: ⁠  / mbc.chicago  ⁠ Podcasts: Listen on Apple, Spotify & others TO SUPPORT US Zelle to: info@mbchicago.org Website: ⁠https://mbchicago.org/give⁠ Venmo: ⁠https://venmo.com/mbchurch⁠ DAF Donations: ⁠https://every.org/mbc.chicago⁠ PayPal: ⁠https://paypal.com/donate/?hosted_but...⁠ ⁠#Ezra⁠ ⁠#DanielBatarseh⁠ ⁠#BibleStudy⁠ ⁠#mbchicago⁠ ⁠#mbcchicago⁠ ⁠#Bible⁠ ⁠#versebyverse⁠ ⁠#church⁠ ⁠#chicago⁠ ⁠#livechurch⁠ ⁠#churchlive⁠ ⁠#chicagochurch⁠ ⁠#chicagochurches⁠ ⁠#sermon⁠ ⁠#bibleexplained⁠ ⁠#bibleproject⁠ ⁠#bibleverse⁠ ⁠#bookbybook⁠ ⁠#oldtestament⁠ ⁠#explained

This sermon explores David's experience in the "Valley of the Shadow of Death," found in the later chapters of 2 Samuel, where he faces betrayal by his son Absalom and is forced to flee Jerusalem. The message outlines three critical lessons for believers navigating their own rock-bottom moments. First, it teaches that Humility is not Passivity, demonstrating how David engaged in strategic, hopeful action by sending Hushai back to the city rather than resigning himself to fate. Second, it highlights the importance of Active Hope, illustrated by David's refusal to retaliate against Shimei's curses, trusting that God would use the suffering for good. Finally, the sermon stresses the need to Not Isolate, encouraging believers to accept life-giving community and support, just as David accepted the provision of Shobi, Machir, and Barzillai in the wilderness. Ultimately, the message assures listeners that the valley is not where faith dies, but where true trust in God's fidelity thrives.    

Joab, in chapter 19 of 2nd Samuel, rescued the situation that had developed with David morosely lamenting Absalom's death and his people and warriors slipping silently away. Joab brought order to what could have turned out to be a total disaster. The king understood the need for healing and being seen to be once more in control. Now that Absalom is dead and the rebellion totally overturned David forgives his recent enemies. Mephibosheth is restored to favour, although somewhat dismissively by the king. Barzillai is rewarded for his kindness and loyalty to the king. Because of his aged condition Barzillai's favour was given to his favourite servant Chimham. A full reconciliation is achieved within the nation.Jeremiah was the prophet in the court of the treacherous and vacillating monarch, Zedekiah - whose name meant "the righteousness of Yah". Note how in verse 4 of Jeremiah 23 the prophet indirectly denounced the king. The same denunciation was made in more scathing words by the prophet Ezekiel, who was beyond the retaliatory reach of Zedekiah in Babylonian exile many hundreds of kilometres away (Ezekiel 21:25-27). From verses 9-22 the lying prophets and their effects on the nation are lamented and denounced. Judah had acted as though her Sovereign was distant and uninterested in what His people were doing. This was the furthest thing from the truth and therefore Yahweh must discipline them.In the 10th chapter of Romans Paul tells us what faith is and how it originates and affects the children of the Almighty. Sadly natural Israel had failed to understand what God's righteousness was and had sought, impossibly to establish their own based on a meritorious system of law keeping. In verses 5-13 the argument is developed from the time of Moses, and based on the words of Deuteronomy 30 that salvation is beyond human effort, but rather dependent upon God's firstly raising up (or producing a sinless saviour) and consequently, able to resurrect him from the dead. Our part is to accept and believe it. The chapter concludes with the fact that this is incredibly good news for us, who would be totally lost without this. Faith, he concludes is based on hearing the Word of God.Chapter 11 of Romans is about national Israel, God's Chosen People, and the Gospel. Some points made include the following:- 1) the Lord God of Israel has never abandoned His people; 2) God has always raised up a remnant among them, to be saved by grace; 3) it has always been been Yahweh's purpose to save the faithful from all nations; 4) the inclusion of the Gentiles was intended to provoke natural Jews to return to their roots and the Father's original purpose for them; 5) Israel's restoration represents a national resurrection and is a token of the nearness of Christ's Kingdom which will be presaged by the resurrection of the dead; 6) the Scriptures abundantly attest this including the words of Joel 3 verses 16-17, 7) And this plan was always our Sovereign's purpose and He never changes from His determined will; 8) we must be in awe and marvel at the riches and wisdom of the Almighty. The great Apostle Paul marvels at the wisdom and foresight of the Almighty. Nothing has happened in His plan to save faithful Jews and Gentiles that the Father had not foreseen. We look forward to the day when the Deliverer will come to Zion and turn away ungodliness from Jacob, and so save Israel, a nation far degraded from its calling as illustrated in the current Jeremiah readings. Read verses 33-36 aloud and praise our Omnipotent Sovereign for His love and merciful kindness.e saved could on one basis alone - by faith in the foundation stone the Father set in Zion (Isaiah 28 verse 16) His beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.More here https://christadelphianvideo.org/christadelphian-daily-readings/

Fortress Church - Barzillai or Caleb

David had failed God, but God did not fail David. Even though David needed to endure the consequences of his sins, God did not forsake David. In fact, God restores David's kingdom and through the pain of God's disciple, God did work in his heart. This was seen in how David responds to Shimei, Mephibosheth and Barzillai.

David had failed God, but God did not fail David. Even though David needed to endure the consequences of his sins, God did not forsake David. In fact, God restores David's kingdom and through the pain of God's disciple, God did work in his heart. This was seen in how David responds to Shimei, Mephibosheth and Barzillai.

Reading: II Samuel 17:25-29; 19:9-12, 31-40; I Kings 2:7 1. Barzillai's Confession 2. It's Powerful Witness 3. The Anointed's Kiss

Second Samuel 19 Take Aways:1. While David eventually made his return as the rightful king of Israel, so Jesus Christ will make His return as the Messianic Lion of Judah, the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords—“Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him.” Revelation 1:72. Mephibosheth experienced reconciliation with David as he genuinely sought a restored relationship with his king above all else; may our relationship with King Jesus be the ultimate goal and priority in our lives—“Seek the LORD and His strength; Seek His face evermore!” 1 Chronicles 16:113. As King David sought to reward the faithful Barzillai for his generous service to the king and his people, so King Jesus will reward those who have faithfully served Him with a genuine and sincere heart—“And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ.” Colossians 3:23-24

In this Bible Story, the great reign of David came to a close. Now Solomon rules over Israel with wisdom, mercy, and justice. As his first act as king, Solomon takes care of those who were loyal to his father, and deals justly with those who betrayed him. This story is inspired by 1 Kings 2. Go to BibleinaYear.com and learn the Bible in a Year.Today's Bible verse is 1 Kings 2:45 from the King James Version.Episode 113: As David is dying, he calls in his son Solomon to bless him and speak God's promises over him. David instructs him on what he should do with Joab and Shimei and requests that he show kindness to Barzillai of Gilead. But Adonijah was not done trying for the throne. He made a request of Bathsheba that Solomon rightly discerned as a claim to the throne. And so as per their agreement, he was executed. Solomon sought to rule his kingdom in fairness and enacted punishments that showed mercy to those who deserved death.Hear the Bible come to life as Pastor Jack Graham leads you through the official BibleinaYear.com podcast. This Biblical Audio Experience will help you master wisdom from the world's greatest book. In each episode, you will learn to apply Biblical principles to everyday life. Now understanding the Bible is easier than ever before; enjoy a cinematic audio experience full of inspirational storytelling, orchestral music, and profound commentary from world-renowned Pastor Jack Graham.Also, you can download the Pray.com app for more Christian content, including, Daily Prayers, Inspirational Testimonies, and Bedtime Bible Stories.Visit JackGraham.org for more resources on how to tap into God's power for successful Christian living.Pray.com is the digital destination of faith. With over 5,000 daily prayers, meditations, bedtime stories, and cinematic stories inspired by the Bible, the Pray.com app has everything you need to keep your focus on the Lord. Make Prayer a priority and download the #1 App for Prayer and Sleep today in the Apple app store or Google Play store.Executive Producers: Steve Gatena & Max BardProducer: Ben GammonHosted by: Pastor Jack GrahamMusic by: Andrew Morgan SmithBible Story narration by: Todd HaberkornSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Anchor Bible Church is a fellowship of believers committed to the authority of Scripture, the clarity of the gospel, and the leadership of Jesus Christ to serve Him and others.   Thanks for listening!   Subscribe...it's free!  Go to: https://www.podbean.com/site/podcatcher/index/blog/0rMpe6TGdsld Take a minute to visit our website at: www.anchorbible.org  Also: Our Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Anchor-Bible-Church/100064875392767/

1. Barzillai's confession 2. Its powerful witness 3. The annointed's kiss

05/04/2025 Rev. Paul Bang Nehemiah 7:5-73     5 Then my God put it into my heart to assemble the nobles and the officials and the people to be enrolled by genealogy. And I found the book of the genealogy of those who came up at the first, and I found written in it: 6 These were the people of the province who came up out of the captivity of those exiles whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried into exile. They returned to Jerusalem and Judah, each to his town. 7 They came with Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Nehemiah, Azariah, Raamiah, Nahamani, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispereth, Bigvai, Nehum, Baanah. The number of the men of the people of Israel: 8 the sons of Parosh, 2,172. 9 The sons of Shephatiah, 372. 10 The sons of Arah, 652. 11 The sons of Pahath-moab, namely the sons of Jeshua and Joab, 2,818. 12 The sons of Elam, 1,254. 13 The sons of Zattu, 845. 14 The sons of Zaccai, 760. 15 The sons of Binnui, 648. 16 The sons of Bebai, 628. 17 The sons of Azgad, 2,322. 18 The sons of Adonikam, 667. 19 The sons of Bigvai, 2,067. 20 The sons of Adin, 655. 21 The sons of Ater, namely of Hezekiah, 98. 22 The sons of Hashum, 328. 23 The sons of Bezai, 324. 24 The sons of Hariph, 112. 25 The sons of Gibeon, 95. 26 The men of Bethlehem and Netophah, 188. 27 The men of Anathoth, 128. 28 The men of Beth-azmaveth, 42. 29 The men of Kiriath-jearim, Chephirah, and Beeroth, 743. 30 The men of Ramah and Geba, 621. 31 The men of Michmas, 122. 32 The men of Bethel and Ai, 123. 33 The men of the other Nebo, 52. 34 The sons of the other Elam, 1,254. 35 The sons of Harim, 320. 36 The sons of Jericho, 345. 37 The sons of Lod, Hadid, and Ono, 721. 38 The sons of Senaah, 3,930. 39 The priests: the sons of Jedaiah, namely the house of Jeshua, 973. 40 The sons of Immer, 1,052. 41 The sons of Pashhur, 1,247. 42 The sons of Harim, 1,017. 43 The Levites: the sons of Jeshua, namely of Kadmiel of the sons of Hodevah, 74. 44 The singers: the sons of Asaph, 148. 45 The gatekeepers: the sons of Shallum, the sons of Ater, the sons of Talmon, the sons of Akkub, the sons of Hatita, the sons of Shobai, 138. 46 The temple servants: the sons of Ziha, the sons of Hasupha, the sons of Tabbaoth, 47 the sons of Keros, the sons of Sia, the sons of Padon, 48 the sons of Lebana, the sons of Hagaba, the sons of Shalmai, 49 the sons of Hanan, the sons of Giddel, the sons of Gahar, 50 the sons of Reaiah, the sons of Rezin, the sons of Nekoda, 51 the sons of Gazzam, the sons of Uzza, the sons of Paseah, 52 the sons of Besai, the sons of Meunim, the sons of Nephushesim, 53 the sons of Bakbuk, the sons of Hakupha, the sons of Harhur, 54 the sons of Bazlith, the sons of Mehida, the sons of Harsha, 55 the sons of Barkos, the sons of Sisera, the sons of Temah, 56 the sons of Neziah, the sons of Hatipha. 57 The sons of Solomon's servants: the sons of Sotai, the sons of Sophereth, the sons of Perida, 58 the sons of Jaala, the sons of Darkon, the sons of Giddel, 59 the sons of Shephatiah, the sons of Hattil, the sons of Pochereth-hazzebaim, the sons of Amon. 60 All the temple servants and the sons of Solomon's servants were 392. 61 The following were those who came up from Tel-melah, Tel-harsha, Cherub, Addon, and Immer, but they could not prove their fathers' houses nor their descent, whether they belonged to Israel: 62 the sons of Delaiah, the sons of Tobiah, the sons of Nekoda, 642. 63 Also, of the priests: the sons of Hobaiah, the sons of Hakkoz, the sons of Barzillai (who had taken a wife of the daughters of Barzillai the Gileadite and was called by their name). 64 These sought their registration among those enrolled in the genealogies, but it was not found there, so they were excluded from the priesthood as unclean. 65 The governor told them that they were not to partake of the most holy food until a priest with Urim and Thummim should arise. 66 The whole assembly together was 42,360, 67 besides their male and female servants, of whom there were 7,337. And they had 245 singers, male and female. 68 Their horses were 736, their mules 245, 69 their camels 435, and their donkeys 6,720. 70 Now some of the heads of fathers' houses gave to the work. The governor gave to the treasury 1,000 darics of gold, 50 basins, 30 priests' garments and 500 minas of silver. 71 And some of the heads of fathers' houses gave into the treasury of the work 20,000 darics of gold and 2,200 minas of silver. 72 And what the rest of the people gave was 20,000 darics of gold, 2,000 minas of silver, and 67 priests' garments. 73 So the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, some of the people, the temple servants, and all Israel, lived in their towns. And when the seventh month had come, the people of Israel were in their towns.

In 2nd Samuel 19, David has the sense to listen to the wisdom of an older man named Barzillai. As we age, we don't mail it in and we never retire from proclaiming Christ. Moses didn't hit his stride until the near end of his life. No matter your age, the Holy Spirit wants to transform you into the image of Christ and allow you to use your wisdom to help others in their faith.  

Have you ever felt like your time has passed? Like you're too old, too late, or too far gone for God to still use you? In this powerful message, Pastors Kevin and Jacinta Mullins dive into the story of Barzillai, an 80-year-old man who could have believed his best days were behind him—but instead, he chose to bless the next generation and step into God's ongoing purpose.Through biblical examples of people who thought they were "done"—Moses, Elijah, Peter, and even a forgotten king in exile—we're reminded that if you're still breathing, God's not finished with you.No matter your age, your past, or what you think you've lost, God still has a plan, a calling, and work for you to do.

"Manifest Destiny" was truly powerful and a reminder of our divine calling as a community. We were reminded of our unique purpose, inspired by passages like Ephesians 4:15-16 and Haggai 2:9, to grow together in love and support each other sacrificially. This sermon highlighted our shared destiny to impact the world through unity and personal sacrifices as seen in the life of Barzillai. By seeing each other as kings and pouring out our lives for one another daily, like Paul did in Philippians 2, we can collectively achieve our God-ordained manifest destiny!

"Manifest Destiny" was truly powerful and a reminder of our divine calling as a community. We were reminded of our unique purpose, inspired by passages like Ephesians 4:15-16 and Haggai 2:9, to grow together in love and support each other sacrificially. This sermon highlighted our shared destiny to impact the world through unity and personal sacrifices as seen in the life of Barzillai. By seeing each other as kings and pouring out our lives for one another daily, like Paul did in Philippians 2, we can collectively achieve our God-ordained manifest destiny!

Barzillai.

Barzillai.

Dig-A-Bit is a weekly mini Bible study with Cindy Colley. It supplements the Digging Deep Bible study for women. In this episode, Cindy discusses Barzillai and hospitality. For more information about the Digging Deep Bible Study for Women, visit TheColleyHouse.org. SCRIPTURE REFERENCES: 2 Samuel LINKS: Digging Deep in God's Word Bible Study for Women Bless Your Heart Blog West Huntsville church of Christ at Providence RESOURCES: The Colley House Music: “Podcast” by JD Sound at audiojungle.net

In this Bible Story, the great reign of David came to a close. Now Solomon rules over Israel with wisdom, mercy, and justice. As his first act as king, Solomon takes care of those who were loyal to his father, and deals justly with those who betrayed him. This story is inspired by 1 Kings 2. Go to BibleinaYear.com and learn the Bible in a Year.Today's Bible verse is 1 Kings 2:45 from the King James Version.Episode 113: As David is dying, he calls in his son Solomon to bless him and speak God's promises over him. David instructs him on what he should do with Joab and Shimei and requests that he show kindness to Barzillai of Gilead. But Adonijah was not done trying for the throne. He made a request of Bathsheba that Solomon rightly discerned as a claim to the throne. And so as per their agreement, he was executed. Solomon sought to rule his kingdom in fairness and enacted punishments that showed mercy to those who deserved death.Hear the Bible come to life as Pastor Jack Graham leads you through the official BibleinaYear.com podcast. This Biblical Audio Experience will help you master wisdom from the world's greatest book. In each episode, you will learn to apply Biblical principles to everyday life. Now understanding the Bible is easier than ever before; enjoy a cinematic audio experience full of inspirational storytelling, orchestral music, and profound commentary from world-renowned Pastor Jack Graham.Also, you can download the Pray.com app for more Christian content, including, Daily Prayers, Inspirational Testimonies, and Bedtime Bible Stories.Visit JackGraham.org for more resources on how to tap into God's power for successful Christian living.Pray.com is the digital destination of faith. With over 5,000 daily prayers, meditations, bedtime stories, and cinematic stories inspired by the Bible, the Pray.com app has everything you need to keep your focus on the Lord. Make Prayer a priority and download the #1 App for Prayer and Sleep today in the Apple app store or Google Play store.Executive Producers: Steve Gatena & Max BardProducer: Ben GammonHosted by: Pastor Jack GrahamMusic by: Andrew Morgan SmithBible Story narration by: Todd HaberkornSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In today's readings, Fr. Mike points out how the loss of David's son overshadows everything else for a time. The readings are 2 Samuel 19, 1 Chronicles 24, and Psalm 38. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/bibleinayear. Please note: The Bible contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.

“There were some that could not prove themselves Israelites (v. 59, 60), a considerable number, who presumed they were of the seed of Jacob, but could not produce their pedigrees... There were others that could not prove themselves priests, and yet were supposed to be of the seed of Aaron... Now we are here told how they lost their evidence. One of their ancestors married a daughter of Barzillai, that great man whom we read of in David's time; he gloried in an alliance to that honourable family, and, preferring that before the dignity of his priesthood, would have his children called after Barzillai's family, and their pedigree preserved in the registers of that house, not of the house of Aaron, and so they lost it. In Babylon there was nothing to be got by the priesthood, and therefore they cared not for being akin to it... Now that the priests had recovered their rights, and had the altar to live upon again, they would gladly be looked upon as priests. But they had sold their birthright for the honour of being gentlemen, and therefore were justly degraded, and forbidden to eat of the most holy things. Note, Christ will be ashamed of those that are ashamed of him and his service.” -Matthew Henry

In this Bible Story, the great reign of David came to a close. Now Solomon rules over Israel with wisdom, mercy, and justice. As his first act as king, Solomon takes care of those who were loyal to his father, and deals justly with those who betrayed him. This story is inspired by 1 Kings 2. Go to BibleinaYear.com and learn the Bible in a Year.Today's Bible verse is 1 Kings 2:45 from the King James Version.Episode 113: As David is dying, he calls in his son Solomon to bless him and speak God's promises over him. David instructs him on what he should do with Joab and Shimei and requests that he show kindness to Barzillai of Gilead. But Adonijah was not done trying for the throne. He made a request of Bathsheba that Solomon rightly discerned as a claim to the throne. And so as per their agreement, he was executed. Solomon sought to rule his kingdom in fairness and enacted punishments that showed mercy to those who deserved death.Hear the Bible come to life as Pastor Jack Graham leads you through the official BibleinaYear.com podcast. This Biblical Audio Experience will help you master wisdom from the world's greatest book. In each episode, you will learn to apply Biblical principles to everyday life. Now understanding the Bible is easier than ever before; enjoy a cinematic audio experience full of inspirational storytelling, orchestral music, and profound commentary from world-renowned Pastor Jack Graham.Also, you can download the Pray.com app for more Christian content, including, Daily Prayers, Inspirational Testimonies, and Bedtime Bible Stories.Visit JackGraham.org for more resources on how to tap into God's power for successful Christian living.This episode is sponsored by Medi-Share, an innovative health care solution for Christians to save money without sacrificing quality.Pray.com is the digital destination of faith. With over 5,000 daily prayers, meditations, bedtime stories, and cinematic stories inspired by the Bible, the Pray.com app has everything you need to keep your focus on the Lord. Make Prayer a priority and download the #1 App for Prayer and Sleep today in the Apple app store or Google Play store.Executive Producers: Steve Gatena & Max BardProducer: Ben GammonHosted by: Pastor Jack GrahamMusic by: Andrew Morgan SmithBible Story narration by: Todd HaberkornSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this Bible Story, Samson battles with a lion, breaks his vow as a Nazarite, and marries a Philistine woman. His foolishness costs him greatly, and his wife marries another man. This story is inspired by Judges 14. Go to BibleinaYear.com and learn the Bible in a Year.Today's Bible verse is Judges 14:14 from the King James Version.Episode 67: Samson, now a grown man, was walking around in the city of Timnah one day. He caught sight of a beautiful woman and immediately went back to his home to ask his parents to fetch her for him as a wife. On the way there a lion attacked Samson, but the Spirit of the Lord was upon him and he defeated the lion with his bare hands. In his pride, this became the perfect excuse to set up a riddle to place a bet and win himself 30 new garments at his wedding party. But we should be careful with what we say or do in moments of pride because just like Samson we might end up losing more than we imagine instead.Hear the Bible come to life as Pastor Jack Graham leads you through the official BibleinaYear.com podcast. This Biblical Audio Experience will help you master wisdom from the world's greatest book. In each episode, you will learn to apply Biblical principles to everyday life. Now understanding the Bible is easier than ever before; enjoy a cinematic audio experience full of inspirational storytelling, orchestral music, and profound commentary from world-renowned Pastor Jack Graham.Also, you can download the Pray.com app for more Christian content, including, Daily Prayers, Inspirational Testimonies, and Bedtime Bible Stories.Visit JackGraham.org for more resources on how to tap into God's power for successful Christian living.This episode is sponsored by Medi-Share, an innovative health care solution for Christians to save money without sacrificing quality.Pray.com is the digital destination of faith. With over 5,000 daily prayers, meditations, bedtime stories, and cinematic stories inspired by the Bible, the Pray.com app has everything you need to keep your focus on the Lord. Make Prayer a priority and download the #1 App for Prayer and Sleep today in the Apple app store or Google Play store.Executive Producers: Steve Gatena & Max BardProducer: Ben GammonHosted by: Pastor Jack GrahamMusic by: Andrew Morgan SmithBible Story narration by: Todd HaberkornSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/bibleinayear. Please note: The Bible contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.