Podcasts about Beersheba

(This podcast was previously published on, November 7, 2021)   Jesus Ministries, Joan Boney  ...   For many decades, God used HIS appointed judges to rule over the children of Israel.  But the people saw the other nations having a king over them and they wanted a king like those nations around them had.  They did not want judges of God ruling over them any longer.  So they asked God to give them a king like the other nations had.   God had often used HIS prophets to rule.   I Samuel 8   1 And it came to pass, when Samuel was old, that he made his sons judges over Israel.   2 Now the name of his firstborn was Joel; and the name of his second, Abiah: they were judges in Beersheba.   3 And his sons walked not in his ways, but turned aside after lucre, and took bribes, and perverted judgment.   4 Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together, and came to Samuel unto Ramah,   5 And said unto him, Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways: now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.   6 But the thing displeased Samuel, when they said, Give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed unto the LORD.   7 And the LORD said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected ME, that I should not reign over them.   8 According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt even unto this day, wherewith they have forsaken ME, and served other gods, so do they also unto thee.   9 Now therefore hearken unto their voice: howbeit yet protest solemnly unto them, and shew them the manner of the king that shall reign over them.   10 And Samuel told all the words of the LORD unto the people that asked of him a king.   11 And he said, This will be the manner of the king that shall reign over you: He will take your sons, and appoint them for himself, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen; and some shall run before his chariots.   12 And he will appoint him captains over thousands, and captains over fifties; and will set them to ear his ground, and to reap his harvest, and to make his instruments of war, and instruments of his chariots.   13 And he will take your daughters to be confectionaries, and to be cooks, and to be bakers.   14 And he will take your fields, and your vineyards, and your oliveyards, even the best of them, and give them to his servants.   15 And he will take the tenth of your seed, and of your vineyards, and give to his officers, and to his servants.   16 And he will take your menservants, and your maidservants, and your goodliest young men, and your asses, and put them to his work.   17 He will take the tenth of your sheep: and ye shall be his servants.   18 And ye shall cry out in that day because of your king which ye shall have chosen you; and the LORD will not hear you in that day.   19 Nevertheless the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel; and they said, Nay; but we will have a king over us;   20 That we also may be like all the nations; and that our king may judge us, and go out before us, and fight our battles.   21 And Samuel heard all the words of the people, and he rehearsed them in the ears of the LORD.   22 And the LORD said to Samuel, Hearken unto their voice, and make them a king. And Samuel said unto the men of Israel, Go ye every man unto his city.  

(This podcast was previously published on, November 6, 2021)   Jesus Ministries, Joan Boney  ...   Hannah, the mother of Samuel was barren, having been given no children.   I Samuel 1   10 And she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed unto the LORD, and wept sore.   11 And she vowed a vow, and said, O LORD of hosts, if THOU wilt indeed look on the affliction of thine handmaid, and remember me, and not forget thine handmaid, but wilt give unto thine handmaid a man child, then I will give him unto the LORD all the days of his life, and there shall no razor come upon his head.  

1 Samuel 3: 1-21   English Standard Version     The Lord Calls Samuel 3 Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the Lord in the presence of Eli. And the word of the Lord was rare in those days; there was no frequent vision. 2 At that time Eli, whose eyesight had begun to grow dim so that he could not see, was lying down in his own place. 3 The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was. 4 Then the Lord called Samuel, and he said, “Here I am!” 5 and ran to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” But he said, “I did not call; lie down again.” So he went and lay down. 6 And the Lord called again, “Samuel!” and Samuel arose and went to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” But he said, “I did not call, my son; lie down again.” 7 Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, and the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him. 8 And the Lord called Samuel again the third time. And he arose and went to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” Then Eli perceived that the Lord was calling the boy. 9 Therefore Eli said to Samuel, “Go, lie down, and if he calls you, you shall say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant hears.'” So Samuel went and lay down in his place. 10 And the Lord came and stood, calling as at other times, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant hears.” 11 Then the Lord said to Samuel, “Behold, I am about to do a thing in Israel at which the two ears of everyone who hears it will tingle. 12 On that day I will fulfill against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from beginning to end. 13 And I declare to him that I am about to punish his house forever, for the iniquity that he knew, because his sons were blaspheming God,[a] and he did not restrain them. 14 Therefore I swear to the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli's house shall not be atoned for by sacrifice or offering forever.” 15 Samuel lay until morning; then he opened the doors of the house of the Lord. And Samuel was afraid to tell the vision to Eli. 16 But Eli called Samuel and said, “Samuel, my son.” And he said, “Here I am.” 17 And Eli said, “What was it that he told you? Do not hide it from me. May God do so to you and more also if you hide anything from me of all that he told you.” 18 So Samuel told him everything and hid nothing from him. And he said, “It is the Lord. Let him do what seems good to him.” 19 And Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground. 20 And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba knew that Samuel was established as a prophet of the Lord. 21 And the Lord appeared again at Shiloh, for the Lord revealed himself to Samuel at Shiloh by the word of the Lord. Footnotes 1 Samuel 3:13 Or blaspheming for themselves

Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the Lord in the presence of Eli. And the word of the Lord was rare in those days; there was no frequent vision.2 At that time Eli, whose eyesight had begun to grow dim so that he could not see, was lying down in his own place. 3 The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was.4 Then the Lord called Samuel, and he said, “Here I am!” 5 and ran to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” But he said, “I did not call; lie down again.” So he went and lay down.6 And the Lord called again, “Samuel!” and Samuel arose and went to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” But he said, “I did not call, my son; lie down again.” 7 Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, and the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him.8 And the Lord called Samuel again the third time. And he arose and went to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” Then Eli perceived that the Lord was calling the boy. 9 Therefore Eli said to Samuel, “Go, lie down, and if he calls you, you shall say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant hears.'” So Samuel went and lay down in his place.10 And the Lord came and stood, calling as at other times, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant hears.” 11 Then the Lord said to Samuel, “Behold, I am about to do a thing in Israel at which the two ears of everyone who hears it will tingle. 12 On that day I will fulfill against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from beginning to end. 13 And I declare to him that I am about to punish his house forever, for the iniquity that he knew, because his sons were blaspheming God, and he did not restrain them. 14 Therefore I swear to the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli's house shall not be atoned for by sacrifice or offering forever.”15 Samuel lay until morning; then he opened the doors of the house of the Lord. And Samuel was afraid to tell the vision to Eli. 16 But Eli called Samuel and said, “Samuel, my son.” And he said, “Here I am.” 17 And Eli said, “What was it that he told you? Do not hide it from me. May God do so to you and more also if you hide anything from me of all that he told you.” 18 So Samuel told him everything and hid nothing from him. And he said, “It is the Lord. Let him do what seems good to him.”19 And Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground. 20 And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba knew that Samuel was established as a prophet of the Lord. 21 And the Lord appeared again at Shiloh, for the Lord revealed himself to Samuel at Shiloh by the word of the Lord.And the word of Samuel came to all Israel.1.     Have you been through a season (or perhaps your whole life) where God felt silent? Looking back, what did you assume that silence meant about you?2.     If you have ever heard from God, what was that like, how did you experience it?3.     What tends to drown out God's call in your life — the buzz of busyness, the fog of scrolling, the race to succeed — or where do you catch yourself hearing his call but crediting it to "somewhere else" (your appetites, hurts, goals)?4.     "Do you want to hear what God has to say?" Is there something you suspect God might be asking of you that you've quietly avoided asking a follow-up question about?5.     Do you see in yourself more of an Eli posture or a Samuel posture?6.     Do you see Jesus' life, death and resurrection as a full and sufficient word from God?

Daily Dose of Hope September 11, 2026   Scripture:  Genesis 26:1-33   Prayer:  Holy God, We rejoice and give praise for the ways you care for us.  We rejoice and give praise for how you continue to forgive us and give us second and third chances.  Help us seek lives characterized by your holiness.  Help us seek pure hearts.  Lord, in these next few moments of silence, hear our prayers and help us bring together all our scattered thoughts and focus on you...It's in your name we pray, Amen.   Welcome back to the Daily Dose of Hope, the devotional and podcast that complements the New Hope daily Bible reading plan.  We are currently working our way through the book of Genesis.  Today, our reading is the bulk of Genesis 26, through verse 33.   We read in today's chapter that there is a famine in the land so Isaac goes down to Gerar.  Gerar was a town south of Canaan, located in a fertile valley, which makes sense why Isaac would choose that location.  But when he gets there, he does something that will sound very familiar to us.  He tells the local king that Rebekah is his sister!  Like father, like son.  Even though God has promised to protect him, Isaac is still fearful.  How often we fall into the same pattern as our parents.   It's here that we see God's grace.  God blesses Isaac despite himself.  Even after the king finds out that Rebekah is his wife, God ensures that Isaac is blessed and protected.  His flocked multiply.  His wells are plentiful.  He is so very successful that the locals are feeling threatened and he keeps moving around.  He ends up settling in Beersheba, where God reinforces that he is with Isaac and will make his descendants great.    Isaac's success ends up being a witness for the Lord.  Eventually, the king comes and finds him.  He admits that he knows that Isaac is successful because of God Almighty is with him.  It isn't anything that Isaac has done (it's actually despite Isaac).  It's all God.  This leads to Isaac making a covenant of peace with the king.  Again, we see God's hand at work.   How often have you seen God's hand at work in your life, even when you have been disobedient or sinful?  It's amazing to me how God's grace can persist through our mess and stubbornness.    Blessings, Pastor Vicki    

Using Abraham's well and the tree he planted at Beersheba, this message challenges believers to recognize the value of what God has given them and to preserve it for the generations that follow. Though the enemy may try to cover the well and leave us spiritually dry, the tree still points us back to the source. Ultimately, that tree pictures the cross of Christ, where we can always return and find the living water of salvation and strength.

Ephesians 6: 10-17 NIV 10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation (deliverance) and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. Repentance - Turning our Hearts Back to God 2 Chronicles 19:4 NIV 4 Jehoshaphat lived in Jerusalem, and he went out again among the people from Beersheba to the hill country of Ephraim and turned them back to the Lord, the God of their ancestors. 2 Chronicles 20:1-2a NIV After this, the Moabites and Ammonites with some of the Meunites came to wage war against Jehoshaphat. 2 Some people came and told Jehoshaphat, “A vast army is coming against you from Edom, from the other side of the Dead Sea. 2 Chronicles 20:3 NIV 3 Alarmed, Jehoshaphat resolved to inquire of the Lord, and he proclaimed a fast for all Judah. Repentance - Turning our Hearts Back to God 2) Fasting - Turning our Focus Back to God Matthew 17:17-21 NASB 17 And Jesus answered and said, “You unbelieving and perverted generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring him here to Me.” 18 And Jesus rebuked him, and the demon came out of him, and the boy was cured at once. 19 Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not drive it out?” 20 And He said to them, “Because of the littleness of your faith; for truly I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you. 21 But this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.” Repentance - Turning our Hearts Back to God Fasting - Turning Our Focus Back to God 3) Thanksgiving - Turning our Praise Back to God 2 Chronicles 20:15-19 NIV 15 He said: “Listen, King Jehoshaphat and all who live in Judah and Jerusalem! This is what the Lord says to you: ‘Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God's. 16 Tomorrow march down against them. They will be climbing up by the Pass of Ziz, and you will find them at the end of the gorge in the Desert of Jeruel. 17 You will not have to fight this battle. Take up your positions; stand firm and see the deliverance the Lord will give you, Judah and Jerusalem. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Go out to face them tomorrow, and the Lord will be with you.'” 18 Jehoshaphat bowed down with his face to the ground, and all the people of Judah and Jerusalem fell down in worship before the Lord. 19 Then some Levites from the Kohathites and Korahites stood up and praised the Lord, the God of Israel, with a very loud voice. 2 Chronicles 20:15-19 NIV 21 After consulting the people, Jehoshaphat appointed men to sing to the Lord and to praise him for the splendor of his holiness as they went out at the head of the army, saying: “Give thanks to the Lord, for his love endures forever.” 22 As they began to sing and praise, the Lord set ambushes against the men of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir who were invading Judah, and they were defeated. Repentance - Turning our Hearts Back to God Fasting - Turning Our Focus Back to God Thanksgiving - Turning our Praise Back to God

This chapter continues the story of the corruption of Gibeah and the tribe of Benjamin, with judgment falling on them and on the rest of Israel. This teaches lessons about the covenant, just war, and the difference between punishment and discipline. The Text: “Then all the children of Israel went out, and the congregation was gathered together as one man, from Dan even to Beersheba, with the land of Gilead, unto the LORD in Mizpeh…” (Judges 20:1-48)King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.Follow us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/kingscrossmoscow.

Deuteronomy 17:14-20 (NIV) When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you and have taken possession of it and settled in it, and you say, “Let us set a king over us like all the nations around us,” be sure to appoint over you a king the Lord your God chooses. He must be from among your fellow Israelites. Do not place a foreigner over you, one who is not an Israelite. The king, moreover, must not acquire great numbers of horses for himself or make the people return to Egypt to get more of them, for the Lord has told you, “You are not to go back that way again.” He must not take many wives, or his heart will be led astray. He must not accumulate large amounts of silver and gold. When he takes the throne of his kingdom, he is to write for himself on a scroll a copy of this law, taken from that of the Levitical priests. It is to be with him, and he is to read it all the days of his life so that he may learn to revere the Lord his God and follow carefully all the words of this law and these decrees and not consider himself better than his fellow Israelites and turn from the law to the right or to the left. Then he and his descendants will reign a long time over his kingdom in Israel. 1. It tells us the type of leaders that God wants us to be 2. It tells us the type of leaders God's people should be looking for Deuteronomy 17:14-15 (NIV) When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you and have taken possession of it and settled in it, and you say, “Let us set a king over us like all the nations around us.” Deuteronomy 17:15-20 (NIV) be sure to appoint over you a king the Lord your God chooses. He must be from among your fellow Israelites. Do not place a foreigner over you, one who is not an Israelite. The king, moreover, must not acquire great numbers of horses for himself or make the people return to Egypt to get more of them, for the Lord has told you, “You are not to go back that way again.” He must not take many wives, or his heart will be led astray. He must not accumulate large amounts of silver and gold. When he takes the throne of his kingdom, he is to write for himself on a scroll a copy of this law, taken from that of the Levitical priests. It is to be with him, and he is to read it all the days of his life so that he may learn to revere the Lord his God and follow carefully all the words of this law and these decrees and not consider himself better than his fellow Israelites and turn from the law to the right or to the left. Then he and his descendants will reign a long time over his kingdom in Israel. God's choiceA man of the WordA man of the peopleDon't amass horsesDon't amass wives Don't amass wealth 1 Samuel 8:1-7 (NIV) When Samuel grew old, he appointed his sons as Israel's leaders. The name of his firstborn was Joel and the name of his second was Abijah, and they served at Beersheba. But his sons did not follow his ways. They turned aside after dishonest gain and accepted bribes and perverted justice. So all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah. They said to him, “You are old, and your sons do not follow your ways; now appoint a king to lead us, such as all the other nations have.”

(This podcast was previously published on September 28, 2021)   Jesus Ministries, Joan Boney  ...   Deuteronomy 14:2  For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God, and the LORD hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto HIMSELF, above all the nations that are upon the earth.   The children of Israel were chosen by God to be HIS people in the Old Testament.   Noah found grace in the sight of God and God saved Noah from the great flood.   Abraham was chosen by God and was given promises concerning the nations that were to come from him.   Genesis 12:1-4  Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:  And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.   4 So Abram departed, as the LORD had spoken unto him;   And God gave promises to both Isaac and Jacob, Abraham's son and grandson.   God spoke to them also and made HIMSELF known.   To Isaac, God said:  Go not down into Egypt; dwell into the land which I shall tell thee of:  Sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee, and will bless thee; for unto thee, and unto thy seed, I will give all these countries, and I will perform the oath which I sware unto Abraham thy father;  And I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; Because that Abraham obeyed MY voice, and kept MY charge, MY commandments, MY statutes, and MY laws.  (Genesis 26:2-5)   God revealed HIMSELF to Jacob:  And Jacob went out from Beersheba, and went toward Haran. And he lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set; and he took of the stones of that place, and put them for his pillows, and lay down in that place to sleep.   And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it.   And, behold, the LORD stood above it, and said, I am the LORD God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed;  And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.  And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.  (Genesis 28:10-15)   Later Jacob was renamed by God as Israel.  HIS 12 sons were the children of Israel, the 12 tribes of Israel.   To Joseph, one of the 12 sons, God revealed HIMSELF by dreams.  His brothers hated Joseph because the dreams showed Joseph ruling over them.  So they sold Joseph into bondage and Joseph was taken down into Egypt before the great famine came on the earth.  God gave wisdom to Joseph and therefore all that Joseph did prospered above all men.  Pharaoh saw this and made Joseph a ruler in Egypt, second only to himself.   70 men were the number of the children of Israel who went down into Egypt at the time of the great famine.   The generations of the children of Israel spent 430 years in Egypt and when they were delivered from Egypt by God, their number of men above the age of 20 was 603,550. (Exodus 38:26)   Even under the years of adversity in Egypt, God multiplied them greatly as God said he would do in HIS promises to Abraham.   In all this we see when God reveals HIMSELF to an individual, God becomes their God.  

Text: Genesis 46 1.       God's Promise is Reaffirmed (Genesis 46:1-4) ·       Jacob journeys to Beersheba to worship God ·       God renews His covenant promise with Jacob and promises to be with him. ·       We must trust God to be with us and keep His promises in the midst of fear and uncertainty. 2.       Jacob's Faith is Renewed (Genesis 46:5-27) ·       Jacob obeyed the Lord and journeyed to Egypt with his entire family. ·       The list of 70 names highlights the faithfulness of God to keep His covenant promise. ·       We need to regularly rehearse the faithfulness of God. 3.       God's People are Reunited (Genesis 46:28-34) ·       God was faithful to reunite Jacob and Joseph after decades of hardship and loss. God was faithful to provide for and protect His people in Egypt.

https://wels2.blob.core.windows.net/tmb-ehv/03-0803db.mp3 Listen to Bible reading Through My Bible Yr 03 – August 03 Amos 8:4 – 9:15 Amos 8 Fraud and Hypocrisy on Holy Days 4 Listen to this, you who trample on the needy         to wipe out the oppressed from the land, 5 who say, “When will the New Moon be over so that we can sell grain?     When will the Sabbath end so that we can open the grain bins?     Then we will make the bushel [1] smaller and make the shekel weight heavier. [2]     We will cheat with dishonest scales. 6 We will buy the poor for silver     and the needy for a pair of sandals.     We will sell the chaff with the grain.” A Famine of the Lord's Word 7 The Lord swears by the Pride of Jacob,     “I will never forget any of their deeds!” 8 Because of this, the land will shake,     and everyone living in it will mourn.     The whole land will rise up like the Nile.     It will surge and sink down again like the Nile of Egypt. 9 Here is what will happen on that day, declares the Lord God:     I will make the sun set at noon,     and I will bring darkness on the earth when it should be light. 10 I will turn your festivals into mourning     and all of your songs into a lamentation.     I will put sackcloth on all your waists     and baldness on every head.     I will make that day like the mourning for an only son,     and it will end like a bitter day. 11 Look, the days are coming, declares the Lord God,     when I will send a famine into the land—     not a famine of bread     nor a thirst for water,     but rather a famine of hearing the words of the Lord. 12 People will stumble from sea to sea     and from north to east.     They will roam back and forth seeking the word of the Lord,     but they will not find it. 13 On that day the beautiful virgins will faint,     and the young men will grow weak from thirst. 14 Those who swear by the shameful guilt [3] of Samaria,     those who say, “As your god lives, Dan,”     or, “The way of Beersheba lives”—     they will fall, and they will never rise again. The Fifth Vision: The Lord Topples the Temple Amos 9 1 I saw the Lord standing by the altar, and he said:     Strike the capitals on top of the pillars so that the thresholds shake.     Cut them off so that they fall on the heads of all the people,     and those who survive I will kill with the sword.     No one who flees from there will get away,     and not a single fugitive from among them will escape. 2 Even if they dig down to hell, [4]     from there my hand will seize them.     And even if they ascend to heaven,     from there I will bring them down. 3 Even if they hide themselves on the top of Mount Carmel,     from there I will search for them, and I will seize them.     Even if they hide themselves from my sight at the bottom of the sea,     from there I will command the serpent, and it will bite them. 4 Even if they go into captivity in the presence of their enemies,     from there I will command the sword, and it will kill them.     And I will set my eye upon them for disaster and not for good. The Lord Shakes the Earth 5 The Lord God of Armies is the one who touches the earth, so that it melts.     All who dwell on it mourn.     All of it rises like the Nile,     and like the Nile of Egypt it sinks down again. 6 He is the one who builds his upper chambers in heaven.     He set the foundation for his vault upon the earth.     He is the one who summons the waters of the sea     and pours them out over the face of the earth—     the Lord is his name. The Final Judgment 7 Are you not like Cushites [5] to me, you children of Israel?     declares the Lord.     Did I not bring Israel up from the land of Egypt     and the Philistines from Caphtor [6]     and the Arameans from Kir? [7] 8 Look, the eyes of the Lord God are on the sinful kingdom,     and I will destroy it from the face of the earth.     But I will never completely destroy the house of Jacob,     declares the Lord. 9 Listen! I am giving a command,     and among all the nations I will shake the house of Israel         as the contents of a sieve are shaken,     and not even one pebble [8] will fall out to the ground. [9] 10 By a sword, all the sinners among my people will die,     those who are saying, “Disaster will not overtake us. It will not confront us.” The Restoration of David's Fallen Shelter 11 In that day I will raise up the fallen shelter of David. I will repair the broken parts of its walls, and I will raise up its ruins. I will rebuild it as in days of old, 12 so that they will possess what remains of Edom, that is, all the nations who are called by my name, declares the Lord, who is doing this. 13 Look, days are coming, declares the Lord, when the plowman will catch up with the reaper, and the one who tramples grapes will catch up with the one sowing the seed. The mountains will drip sweet wine, [10] and all the hills will wave with grain. [11] 14 I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel, and they will rebuild the desolate cities and dwell in them. They will plant vineyards and drink their wine, and they will make gardens and eat their fruit. 15 I will plant them in their soil, and they will never again be uprooted from the soil that I have given to them, says the Lord your God. Footnotes Amos 8:5 Literally the ephah Amos 8:5 Merchants cheated by measuring out the grain they were selling with an undersized bushel and weighing the silver they received with an overweight shekel. Amos 8:14 Possibly a distortion of the name of the goddess Ashima/Asherah Amos 9:2 Hebrew sheol Amos 9:7 Cushites are black Africans from south of Egypt, from the territory that today is Sudan. Amos 9:7 That is, Crete or some other location in the Mediterranean Amos 9:7 The location of Kir is unknown. It is probably far to the north. Amos 9:9 Or kernel of grain Amos 9:9 The people of Israel are being sorted through a sieve. It is not clear whether those kept in the sieve are the pebbles that cannot escape judgment or the grains that are being separated from the chaff, which will be burned. The judgment is the same in either case. Amos 9:13 Sweet wine refers to wine that is still sweet because it has not yet been soured by continued fermentation. Amos 9:13 Or flow with wine The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.

#top .av-special-heading.av-gs9o3p-98191d0f547ef706035ac722b608a1f6{ padding-bottom:10px; } body .av-special-heading.av-gs9o3p-98191d0f547ef706035ac722b608a1f6 .av-special-heading-tag .heading-char{ font-size:25px; } .av-special-heading.av-gs9o3p-98191d0f547ef706035ac722b608a1f6 .av-subheading{ font-size:15px; } Through My Bible Yr 03 – July 31Amos 5 LISTEN HERE Through My Bible – July 31 Amos 5 (EHV) https://wels2.blob.core.windows.net/tmb-ehv/03-0731db.mp3 See series: Through My Bible Mourning for Fallen Israel 1 Listen to this word that I am raising against you as a lament, [1] O house of Israel: 2 Virgin Israel has fallen, and she will not rise again.     She is abandoned on her own soil.     There is no one to lift her up. 3 For this is what the Lord God says:     A city that marches out with a thousand will have a hundred left.     A city that marches out with a hundred will have ten left for the house of Israel. Seek the Lord and Live! 4 Listen, this is what the Lord says to the house of Israel:     Seek me and live! 5 But do not seek Bethel.     Do not go to Gilgal.     Do not travel to Beersheba,     because Gilgal surely will go into exile,     and Bethel will become nothing. 6 Seek the Lord and live,     or he will rush upon the house of Joseph like fire.     The fire will consume, and no one will extinguish it for Bethel. 7 There are some who turn justice into wormwood, [2]     who throw righteousness to the ground. 8 There is one who made the Pleiades and Orion,     who turns the shadow of death into morning,     who darkens day into night,     who summons the waters of the seas,     who pours them out upon the face of the earth—     the Lord is his name. 9 He causes destruction to flash against a stronghold,     and destruction comes upon a fortress. 10 There are those who hate an arbitrator [3] in the city gate. [4]     They despise anyone who speaks honestly. 11 That is why you trample on the poor,     and you collect taxes on their grain.     You have built houses of cut stones,     but you will not live in them.     You have planted choice vineyards,     but you will not drink their wine. 12 For I know that your rebellious deeds are many,     and your sins are numerous,     you who are enemies of a righteous man,     you who take bribes.     They thrust away needy people in the city gate. 13 That is why a prudent man will be silent in that time,     because it is an evil time. 14 Seek good and not evil, so that you may live,     and then it will be like this for you:     The Lord, the God of Armies, will be with you, as you claim. 15 Hate evil and love good.     Establish justice in the city gate.     Perhaps the Lord, the God of Armies,         will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph. 16 Therefore, this is what the Lord says,     the God of Armies, who is the Lord:     In the city squares there will be grief,     and in the streets they will say, “Woe, woe!”     They will summon the farmer to mourn     and the professional mourners to sing laments. 17 In all the vineyards there will be grief,     because I will pass through your midst, says the Lord. The Day of the Lord Brings Darkness 18 Woe to those who long for the Day of the Lord!     What good will the Day of the Lord be for you?     It will be darkness and not light. 19 It will be as if a man flees from a lion,     but a bear meets him,     or he enters a house and rests his hand on a wall,     but a snake bites him. 20 Will not the Day of the Lord be darkness and not light,     gloom without a trace of brightness? The Lord Hates Faithless Worship 21 I hate, I reject, your festivals!     I do not delight in the aroma of the sacrifices at your sacred convocations. 22 Even if you offer up to me your whole burnt offerings and your grain offerings,     I will not accept them.     I will not pay any attention to your fellowship offerings of fattened calves. 23 Get the noise of your songs away from me!     I will not listen to the music of your harps. 24 But let justice roll like the waters,     and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. 25 Did you bring me sacrifices and grain offerings in the wilderness for forty years, O house of Israel? 26 You lifted up images of Sakkuth, your king,     and of Kiyyun, your star god, which you made for yourselves. [5] 27 So I will exile you beyond Damascus,     says the Lord, whose name is the God of Armies. Footnotes Amos 5:1 Or sad song Amos 5:7 Wormwood is a toxic, bitter-tasting substance (absinthe). Amos 5:10 Or a mediator Amos 5:10 The city gate served as the courthouse. Amos 5:26 The form and meaning of several of the terms and names referring to gods in verse 26 are uncertain. The terms seem to refer to astral deities, most likely including Saturn. #top .hr.hr-invisible.av-aocsdx-89cb4ca21532423cf697fc393b6fcee0{ height:10px; } The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved. #top .hr.hr-invisible.av-4vzadh-3f04b370105df1fd314a2a9d83e55b26{ height:50px; } Share this entryShare on FacebookShare on LinkedInShare by MailLink to FlickrLink to InstagramLink to Vimeo

Life can be complicated. We all carry responsibilities, ambitions, goals, and unexpected circumstances that can leave us feeling overwhelmed. When life becomes difficult, our instinct is often to work harder and solve the problem ourselves. Only when we've exhausted our own strength do we finally turn to God, making Him the last piece that completes the puzzle.This weekend, we'll hear authentic stories of lives that are complicated yet transformed by the faithfulness of God. Through the story of Isaac, we'll discover that God was never meant to be the final piece of our life's puzzle. He is the main piece that gives meaning to every other piece. After years of conflict and striving, Isaac finally arrived at Beersheba, built an altar, and worshipped God. The question for all of us is: What will it take for you to arrive at your Beersheba?

Life can be complicated. We all carry responsibilities, ambitions, goals, and unexpected circumstances that can leave us feeling overwhelmed. When life becomes difficult, our instinct is often to work harder and solve the problem ourselves. Only when we've exhausted our own strength do we finally turn to God, making Him the last piece that completes the puzzle.This weekend, we'll hear authentic stories of lives that are complicated yet transformed by the faithfulness of God. Through the story of Isaac, we'll discover that God was never meant to be the final piece of our life's puzzle. He is the main piece that gives meaning to every other piece. After years of conflict and striving, Isaac finally arrived at Beersheba, built an altar, and worshipped God. The question for all of us is: What will it take for you to arrive at your Beersheba?

Summer at Bay Chapel  |  JULY 19, 2026Pastor Wes MorrisGenesis 28:10-17 (NIV) Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Harran. When he reached a certain place, he stopped for the night because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones there, he put it under his head and lay down to sleep. He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. There above it stood the Lord, and he said: “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring.I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.” He was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.”God is often at work in the places we least expect.√ GOD MEETS US IN THE IN-BETWEEN.Genesis 28:10–11 (NIV) Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Harran. When he reached a certain place, he stopped for the night because the sun had set. √ GOD IS CLOSER THAN WE REALIZE.Genesis 28:15 (NIV) “I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go...I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”√ GOD'S PRESENCE CHANGES OUR PERSPECTIVE.Genesis 28:17 (NIV) He was afraid and said, "How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of Heaven."v11 A certain place...v16 Surely the Lord is in this place...v17 How awesome is this place...UNEXPECTED PLACESI. GOD, WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO SHOW ME IN THIS SEASON?Isaiah 43:19 (NIV) See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland. II. GOD, WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO CHANGE IN ME?Romans 5:3-4 (TLB) We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they are good for us—they help us learn to be patient. And patience develops strength of character in us and helps us trust God more each time we use it until finally our hope and faith are strong and steady. III. GOD, HOW CAN I BE FAITHFUL WHILE I'M HERE?Colossians 3:23 (GNT) Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as though you were working for the Lord and not for people.

As directed by his parents, Jacob departed from Beersheba to go to Haran to find a wife. During his first night on the road, God met Jacob in his dream as he laid his head on a stone pillow. God met Jacob where he was. God spoke. Jacob listened and responded. Let's learn how God meets us where we are, how God speaks to us, and how we must listen and respond.

The Lord Sends Rain 41 And Elijah said to Ahab, "Go up, eat and drink, for there is a sound of the rushing of rain." 42 So Ahab went up to eat and to drink. And Elijah went up to the top of Mount Carmel. And he bowed himself down on the earth and put his face between his knees. 43 And he said to his servant, "Go up now, look toward the sea." And he went up and looked and said, "There is nothing." And he said, "Go again," seven times. 44 And at the seventh time he said, "Behold, a little cloud like a man's hand is rising from the sea." And he said, "Go up, say to Ahab, 'Prepare your chariot and go down, lest the rain stop you.'" 45 And in a little while the heavens grew black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain. And Ahab rode and went to Jezreel. 46 And the hand of the Lord was on Elijah, and he gathered up his garment and ran before Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel. Elijah Flees Jezebel 19 Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. 2 Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, "So may the gods do to me and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by this time tomorrow." 3 Then he was afraid, and he arose and ran for his life and came to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there. 4 But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he asked that he might die, saying, "It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my fathers." 5 And he lay down and slept under a broom tree. And behold, an angel touched him and said to him, "Arise and eat." 6 And he looked, and behold, there was....

From “In the Beginning” to Amen // Searching for God Knows What  1 Kings 19:1-3 (NKJV)“And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, also how he had executed all the prophets with the sword. Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, ‘So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time.' And when he saw that, he arose and ran for his life, and went to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there.” 1 Kings 19:4 (NKJV)“But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he prayed that he might die, and said, ‘It is enough! Now, LORD, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers!'" Even Elijah Had a Breaking Point God Doesn't Abandon Us but Rather Meets Us at Our Point of Weakness 1 Kings 19:5 (NKJV)“Then as he lay and slept under a broom tree, suddenly an angel touched him, and said to him, ‘Arise and eat.' Then he looked, and there by his head was a cake baked on coals, and a jar of water. So, he ate and drank and lay down again.” 1 Kings 19:7 (NKJV)“And the angel of the LORD came back the second time, and touched him, and said, ‘Arise and eat, because the journey is too great for you.' So, he arose and ate and drank; and he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights as far as Horeb, the mountain of God.” God Ushers Him into His Forty Day Journey 1 Kings 19:9 (NKJV)“And there he went into a cave, and spent the night in that place; and behold, the word of the LORD came to him, and He said to him, ‘What are you doing here, Elijah?' So, he said, ‘I have been very zealous for the LORD God of hosts; for the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I alone am left; and they seek to take my life.'” Second Point of Hope - He Does Not Abandon Us in the Darkness of Fear and Doubt 1 Kings 19:11 (NKJV)“Then He said, ‘Go out, and stand on the mountain before the LORD.' And behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire.”    Exodus 19:16-19 (NLT)“On the morning of the third day, thunder roared and lightning flashed, and a dense cloud came down on the mountain. There was a long, loud blast from a ram's horn, and all the people trembled. Moses led them out from the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. All of Mount Sinai was covered with smoke because the Lord had descended on it in the form of fire. The smoke billowed into the sky like smoke from a brick kiln, and the whole mountain shook violently. As the blast of the ram's horn grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God thundered his reply.” Exodus 20:18-20 (NLT)“When the people heard the thunder and the loud blast of the ram's horn, and when they saw the flashes of lightning and the smoke billowing from the mountain, they stood at a distance, trembling with fear. And they said to Moses, ‘You speak to us, and we will listen. But don't let God speak directly to us, or we will die!'” God's Declaration in His Very Existence and Being… His Presence, His Breath… 1 Kings 19:13 (NKJV)“So it was, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave. Suddenly a voice came to him, and said, ‘What are you doing here, Elijah?'” 1 Kings 19:14-15 (NKJV)“And he said, ‘I have been very zealous for the LORD God of hosts; because the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I alone am left; and they seek to take my life.' Then the LORD said to him: ‘Go, return on your way…'” “Let's get back to it…” Third Point of Hope - God Is Not Done with You Because You Are Wandering or on a Dark Place Even In Our Faith We Are Mortal Find Rest for Your Mind and Body… When We Are Spent Physically and Mentally, We Are Really Vulnerable God Has Not Abandoned You… He Is Not Condemning You; He Wants to Encourage You, Strengthen You and Sustain You… God Is Not Wanting to Use You Up and Discard You… He Wants You to Find Rest and Be Restored 1 Peter 5:7 (NIV)”CAST ALL YOUR CARES AND ANXIETIES ON ME, BECAUSE I CARE FOR YOU..." He Goes with You and Prepares a Place He WILL Meet with You

Ghost and Ashe in America walk through Season 4 Episode 5, a dense hour with three parallel crises of faith. Judas visits his old mentor Hadad in Bethany, and inside of three minutes Hadad has coached him through why he should be taking a stipend, investing at interest, and positioning himself for Secretary of the Treasury when Jesus takes the throne. The hosts unpack why the character is written not as a scheming villain but as a precocious, earnest guy whose novelty wore off, whose ego never got the death the other disciples got, and who runs back to his old life instead of to Jesus the moment doubt shows up. Meanwhile in Jerusalem, Yusuf arrives at the Sanhedrin and watches Lahad casually pitch murdering Jesus to draw attention to a Beersheba border-expansion project. Sound familiar. And Martha misses the whole thing standing in the kitchen resenting Mary for sitting at Jesus's feet. Jesus tells his mother his followers are spiritually destitute because when people do not want to hear the truth, they turn off their ears. That is the working definition of a normie, delivered by Jesus himself.

Ever feel like you're standing on the edge, carrying more than you know how to hold? In this week's message, “Hitting Breaking Point,” we explore what it means to bring our exhaustion, questions and hidden burdens to Jesus and discover the rest he offers right in the middle of real life in Hong Kong. Whether you're a long-time follower of Jesus, newly exploring faith, or simply feeling worn out, we pray this service helps you encounter the One who knows you, loves you and invites you to lay down what you were never meant to carry alone. If you are new to Community Church, WELCOME! We would love to get to know you. Please fill in the following form and we look forward to connecting with you: https://bit.ly/cc-new-connect You can find all timely and relevant links from this service on https://bit.ly/cc-links You can also find out more about us at https://communitychurch.hk/ ================ This Week's Scripture: // 1 Kings 19:1-13 (NIV) // Elijah flees to Horeb Now Ahab told Jezebel everything Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah to say, ‘May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like that of one of them.' Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there, while he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness. He came to a broom bush, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. ‘I have had enough, LORD,' he said. ‘Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.' Then he lay down under the bush and fell asleep. All at once an angel touched him and said, ‘Get up and eat.' He looked around, and there by his head was some bread baked over hot coals, and a jar of water. He ate and drank and then lay down again. The angel of the LORD came back a second time and touched him and said, ‘Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you.' So he got up and ate and drank. Strengthened by that food, he travelled for forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God. There he went into a cave and spent the night. The LORD appears to Elijah And the word of the Lord came to him: ‘What are you doing here, Elijah?' He replied, ‘I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.' The LORD said, ‘Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by.' Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. Then a voice said to him, ‘What are you doing here, Elijah?'

Pastor Jim examines a period of peace and transition in the life of the biblical figure Abraham from Genesis 21. He focuses on a specific narrative where Abraham enters into a covenant with King Abimelech, emphasizing the importance of believers acting as peacemakers within their local communities and the state. Pastor Jim highlights how Abraham uses generosity and honest communication to resolve a dispute over a well, suggesting that modern Christians should similarly strive for harmonious and generous relationships with those outside the church. He also encourages the congregation to utilize times of relative calm to strengthen their faith by drawing deeply from the "well" of scripture. Ultimately, he presents these peaceful intervals as essential opportunities for spiritual preparation and establishing a resilient identity in God's grace before future trials arise. Support the showThanks for listening! Follow us on Facebook or Instagram more info colonialkc.org

And the rulers of the people dwelt at Jerusalem: the rest of the people also cast lots, to bring one of ten to dwell in Jerusalem the holy city, and nine parts to dwell in other cities.2 And the people blessed all the men, that willingly offered themselves to dwell at Jerusalem.3 Now these are the chief of the province that dwelt in Jerusalem: but in the cities of Judah dwelt every one in his possession in their cities, to wit, Israel, the priests, and the Levites, and the Nethinims, and the children of Solomon's servants.4 And at Jerusalem dwelt certain of the children of Judah, and of the children of Benjamin. Of the children of Judah; Athaiah the son of Uzziah, the son of Zechariah, the son of Amariah, the son of Shephatiah, the son of Mahalaleel, of the children of Perez;5 And Maaseiah the son of Baruch, the son of Colhozeh, the son of Hazaiah, the son of Adaiah, the son of Joiarib, the son of Zechariah, the son of Shiloni.6 All the sons of Perez that dwelt at Jerusalem were four hundred threescore and eight valiant men.7 And these are the sons of Benjamin; Sallu the son of Meshullam, the son of Joed, the son of Pedaiah, the son of Kolaiah, the son of Maaseiah, the son of Ithiel, the son of Jesaiah.8 And after him Gabbai, Sallai, nine hundred twenty and eight.9 And Joel the son of Zichri was their overseer: and Judah the son of Senuah was second over the city.10 Of the priests: Jedaiah the son of Joiarib, Jachin.11 Seraiah the son of Hilkiah, the son of Meshullam, the son of Zadok, the son of Meraioth, the son of Ahitub, was the ruler of the house of God.12 And their brethren that did the work of the house were eight hundred twenty and two: and Adaiah the son of Jeroham, the son of Pelaliah, the son of Amzi, the son of Zechariah, the son of Pashur, the son of Malchiah.13 And his brethren, chief of the fathers, two hundred forty and two: and Amashai the son of Azareel, the son of Ahasai, the son of Meshillemoth, the son of Immer,14 And their brethren, mighty men of valour, an hundred twenty and eight: and their overseer was Zabdiel, the son of one of the great men.15 Also of the Levites: Shemaiah the son of Hashub, the son of Azrikam, the son of Hashabiah, the son of Bunni;16 And Shabbethai and Jozabad, of the chief of the Levites, had the oversight of the outward business of the house of God.17 And Mattaniah the son of Micha, the son of Zabdi, the son of Asaph, was the principal to begin the thanksgiving in prayer: and Bakbukiah the second among his brethren, and Abda the son of Shammua, the son of Galal, the son of Jeduthun.18 All the Levites in the holy city were two hundred fourscore and four.19 Moreover the porters, Akkub, Talmon, and their brethren that kept the gates, were an hundred seventy and two.20 And the residue of Israel, of the priests, and the Levites, were in all the cities of Judah, every one in his inheritance.21 But the Nethinims dwelt in Ophel: and Ziha and Gispa were over the Nethinims.22 The overseer also of the Levites at Jerusalem was Uzzi the son of Bani, the son of Hashabiah, the son of Mattaniah, the son of Micha. Of the sons of Asaph, the singers were over the business of the house of God.23 For it was the king's commandment concerning them, that a certain portion should be for the singers, due for every day.24 And Pethahiah the son of Meshezabeel, of the children of Zerah the son of Judah, was at the king's hand in all matters concerning the people.25 And for the villages, with their fields, some of the children of Judah dwelt at Kirjatharba, and in the villages thereof, and at Dibon, and in the villages thereof, and at Jekabzeel, and in the villages thereof,26 And at Jeshua, and at Moladah, and at Bethphelet,27 And at Hazarshual, and at Beersheba, and in the villages thereof,28 And at Ziklag, and at Mekonah, and in the villages thereof,29 And at Enrimmon, and at Zareah, and at Jarmuth,30 Zanoah, Adullam, and in their villages, at Lachish, and the fields thereof, at Azekah, and in the villages thereof. And they dwelt from Beersheba unto the valley of Hinnom.31 The children also of Benjamin from Geba dwelt at Michmash, and Aija, and Bethel, and in their villages.32 And at Anathoth, Nob, Ananiah,33 Hazor, Ramah, Gittaim,34 Hadid, Zeboim, Neballat,35 Lod, and Ono, the valley of craftsmen.36 And of the Levites were divisions in Judah, and in Benjamin.

TAKING GROUND: 1 - All Part Of The Plan Steve Parrish ‭‭‭‭‭‭SLIDE SERIES: Taking GROUND TITLE: It's All Part Of The PlanSCRIPTURE: Genesis 1:26–28 (ESV) Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”Consider: ADAMEverything is topography/geographyCreation, universe, earthGenesis 1:2 (NIV) Now the earth WAS (became) formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.God does not create formless, empty or darknessSatan thrown to earth - destruction ensuedRevelation 12:7–13 (NIV) Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him. Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: “Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Messiah. For the accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down. They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death. Therefore rejoice, you heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has gone down to you! He is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is short.” When the dragon saw that he had been hurled to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child.Luke 10:17–20 (ESV) The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!” And he said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”His Spirit hovers over situations incongruent with His willrachaph (934b); a prim. root; to grow soft, relax:—trembleGod was about to take ground backGenesis 1:26–28 (ESV) Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”Eden was a small part of ground that God had taken and established for Adam to expand.And God has been using man to take ground one step at a time.Consider: ABRAM/ABRAHAMGenesis 12:1–3 (ESV) Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”Consider: JACOB/ISRAELGenesis 46:1–4 (ESV) So Israel took his journey with all that he had and came to Beersheba, and offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac. And God spoke to Israel in visions of the night and said, “Jacob, Jacob.” And he said, “Here I am.” Then he said, “I am God, the God of your father. Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for there I will make you into a great nation. I myself will go down with you to Egypt, and I will also bring you up again, and Joseph's hand shall close your eyes.”Consider: MOSESNumbers 27:12 (ESV) The Lord said to Moses, “Go up into this mountain of Abarim and see the land that I have given to the people of Israel.Consider: PSALMSPsalm 139:13–17 (ESV) For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them. How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!Consider: JEREMIAHJeremiah 29:11–14 (ESV) For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.Consider: JESUSJohn 1:43 (ESV) The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.”Mark 1:16–18 (ESV) Passing alongside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew the brother of Simon casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.” And immediately they left their nets and followed him.Luke 18:22 (ESV) When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”Psalm 139:13–17 (ESV) Philippians 3:12 (NIV) Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.

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.

The Battle of Gibeon 12Abner the son of Ner, and the servants of Ish-bosheth the son of Saul, went out from Mahanaim to Gibeon.13And Joab the son of Zeruiah and the servants of David went out and met them at the pool of Gibeon. And they sat down, the one on the one side of the pool, and the other on the other side of the pool. 14And Abner said to Joab, Let the young men arise and compete before us. And Joab said, Let them arise. 15Then they arose and passed over by number, twelve for Benjamin and Ish-bosheth the son of Saul, and twelve of the servants of David. 16And each caught his opponent by the head and thrust his sword in his opponent's side, so they fell down together. Therefore that place was called Helkath-hazzurim, which is at Gibeon. 17And the battle was very fierce that day. And Abner and the men of Israel were beaten before the servants of David. 18And the three sons of Zeruiah were there, Joab, Abishai, and Asahel. Now Asahel was as swift of foot as a wild gazelle. 19And Asahel pursued Abner, and as he went, he turned neither to the right hand nor to the left from following Abner. 20Then Abner looked behind him and said, Is it you, Asahel? And he answered, It is I.21Abner said to him, Turn aside to your right hand or to your left, and seize one of the young men and take his spoil. But Asahel would not turn aside from following him. 22And Abner said again to Asahel, Turn aside from following me. Why should I strike you to the ground? How then could I lift up my face to your brother Joab?23But he refused to turn aside. Therefore Abner struck him in the stomach with the butt of his spear, so that the spear came out at his back. And he fell there and died where he was. And all who came to the place where Asahel had fallen and died, stood still. 24But Joab and Abishai pursued Abner. And as the sun was going down they came to the hill of Ammah, which lies before Giah on the way to the wilderness of Gibeon.25And the people of Benjamin gathered themselves together behind Abner and became one group and took their stand on the top of a hill. 26Then Abner called to Joab, Shall the sword devour forever? Do you not know that the end will be bitter? How long will it be before you tell your people to turn from the pursuit of their brothers? 27And Joab said, As God lives, if you had not spoken, surely the men would not have given up the pursuit of their brothers until the morning. 28So Joab blew the trumpet, and all the men stopped and pursued Israel no more, nor did they fight anymore. 29And Abner and his men went all that night through the Arabah. They crossed the Jordan, and marching the whole morning, they came to Mahanaim. 30Joab returned from the pursuit of Abner. And when he had gathered all the people together, there were missing from David's servants nineteen men besides Asahel.31But the servants of David had struck down of Benjamin 360 of Abner's men. 32And they took up Asahel and buried him in the tomb of his father, which was at Bethlehem. And Joab and his men marched all night, and the day broke upon them at Hebron. Abner Joins David 3There was a long war between the house of Saul and the house of David. And David grew stronger and stronger, while the house of Saul became weaker and weaker. 2And sons were born to David at Hebron: his firstborn was Amnon, of Ahinoam of Jezreel; 3and his second, Chileab, of Abigail the widow of Nabal of Carmel; and the third, Absalom the son of Maacah the daughter of Talmai king of Geshur; 4and the fourth, Adonijah the son of Haggith; and the fifth, Shephatiah the son of Abital;5and the sixth, Ithream, of Eglah, David's wife. These were born to David in Hebron. 6While there was war between the house of Saul and the house of David, Abner was making himself strong in the house of Saul. 7Now Saul had a concubine whose name was Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah. And Ish-bosheth said to Abner, Why have you gone in to my father's concubine? 8Then Abner was very angry over the words of Ish-bosheth and said, Am I a dog's head of Judah? To this day I keep showing steadfast love to the house of Saul your father, to his brothers, and to his friends, and have not given you into the hand of David. And yet you charge me today with a fault concerning a woman. 9God do so to Abner and more also, if I do not accomplish for David what the Lord has sworn to him,10to transfer the kingdom from the house of Saul and set up the throne of David over Israel and over Judah, from Dan to Beersheba. 11And Ish-bosheth could not answer Abner another word, because he feared him. 12And Abner sent messengers to David on his behalf,saying, To whom does the land belong? Make your covenant with me, and behold, my hand shall be with you to bring over all Israel to you. 13And he said, Good; I will make a covenant with you. But one thing I require of you; that is, you shall not see my face unless you first bring Michal, Saul's daughter, when you come to see my face. 14Then David sent messengers to Ish-bosheth, Saul's son, saying, Give me my wife Michal, for whom I paid the bridal price of a hundred foreskins of the Philistines. 15And Ish-bosheth sent and took her from her husband Paltiel the son of Laish. 16But her husband went with her, weeping after her all the way to Bahurim. Then Abner said to him, Go, return. And he returned. 17And Abner conferred with the elders of Israel, saying, For some time past you have been seeking David as king over you. 18Now then bring it about, for the Lordhas promised David, saying, By the hand of my servant David I will save my people Israel from the hand of the Philistines, and from the hand of all their enemies.19Abner also spoke to Benjamin. And then Abner went to tell David at Hebron all that Israel and the whole house of Benjamin thought good to do. 20When Abner came with twenty men to David at Hebron, David made a feast for Abner and the men who were with him. 21And Abner said to David, I will arise and go and will gather all Israel to my lord the king, that they may make a covenant with you, and that you may reign over all that your heart desires. So David sent Abner away, and he went in peace. 22Just then the servants of David arrived with Joab from a raid, bringing much spoil with them. But Abner was not with David at Hebron, for he had sent him away, and he had gone in peace. 23When Joab and all the army that was with him came, it was told Joab, Abner the son of Ner came to the king, and he has let him go, and he has gone in peace. 24Then Joab went to the king and said, What have you done? Behold, Abner came to you. Why is it that you have sent him away, so that he is gone?25You know that Abner the son of Ner came to deceive you and to know your going out and your coming in, and to know all that you are doing. Joab Murders Abner 26When Joab came out from David's presence, he sent messengers after Abner, and they brought him back from the cistern of Sirah. But David did not know about it. 27And when Abner returned to Hebron, Joab took him aside into the midst of the gate to speak with him privately, and there he struck him in the stomach, so that he died, for the blood of Asahel his brother.28Afterward, when David heard of it, he said, I and my kingdom are forever guiltless before the Lord for the blood of Abner the son of Ner. 29May it fall upon the head of Joab and upon all his father's house, and may the house of Joab never be without one who has a discharge or who is leprous or who holds a spindle or who falls by the sword or who lacks bread! 30So Joab and Abishai his brother killed Abner, because he had put their brother Asahel to death in the battle at Gibeon. David Mourns Abner 31Then David said to Joab and to all the people who were with him, Tear your clothes and put on sackcloth and mourn before Abner. And King David followed the bier. 32They buried Abner at Hebron. And the king lifted up his voice and wept at the grave of Abner, and all the people wept. 33And the king lamented for Abner, saying, Should Abner die as a fool dies?34Your hands were not bound;your feet were not fettered;as one falls before the wickedyou have fallen. And all the people wept again over him. 35Then all the people came to persuade David to eat bread while it was yet day. But David swore, saying, God do so to me and more also, if I taste bread or anything else till the sun goes down! 36And all the people took notice of it, and it pleased them, as everything that the king did pleased all the people. 37So all the people and all Israel understood that day that it had not been the king's will to put to death Abner the son of Ner. 38And the king said to his servants, Do you not know that a prince and a great man has fallen this day in Israel? 39And I was gentle today, though anointed king. These men, the sons of Zeruiah, are more severe than I. The Lord repay the evildoer according to his wickedness!

April 25, 2026 - Equipped 2026 - Day 3 - 10:00 AM Session This episode is a sermon-style teaching that walks through Genesis 20–25, using the lives of Abraham and Isaac to reveal the character of the God who is called the friend of Abraham. Rather than focusing only on the biographical details of Abraham, the message unpacks how these chapters help us know God better — his pursuit of people, his faithfulness to promises, and his gracious provision. Topics covered include Abraham's journey to Gerar and the Abimelech episode, God's intervention in dreams, the opening of Sarah's womb and the birth of Isaac, the covenant at Beersheba, Hagar and Ishmael's desert deliverance, the testing on Mount Moriah, Sarah's burial in Machpelah, the servant's mission to find Rebekah, and the blessing of Ishmael and Isaac leading to the Jacob and Esau scene. The episode ties these Old Testament narratives to New Testament fulfillment in Jesus, the Spirit as our guarantee, and the hope of resurrection. Key points emphasized: God is a pursuing God who draws his people back in times of weak faith; God is a fulfilling God who keeps his promises; God is a providing God who brings life in the face of certain death; God is a resurrecting God who inspires trust beyond the grave; God guides and directs his people; and God is the blessing-giver whose gifts we must not trade for immediate gratification. The teaching highlights numerous typological connections to Jesus — the Seed, the Lamb, the Resurrected One — and explains how those themes shape Christian hope and discipleship. Listeners can expect a pastoral, Scripture-saturated exposition (no external guests), practical application for seasons of wavering faith, and a steady invitation to trust the God of Abraham — the friend who pursues, provides, fulfills, leads, and blesses his people now and forever. Duration 37:47

We tend to see the world from where we are. It's only natural. We want everyone and everything else to fit in with us. But God, well, He doesn't quite see it that way.   A Boy Called Sam Last week on the programme we spent some time talking about the fact that when the storms of life hit and they inevitably do, what we need is some solid ground beneath our feet. It's a scary place to be, out on that stormy ocean – we are not made for that. We are made for solid ground. And we began looking at the story of some people: a woman called Hannah and her son Samuel and some priests – Eli and his sons Hophni and Phinehas. Hannah, now here was a woman who honoured God and He honoured her – the priests, on the other hand, although they should have known better, they didn't honour God. And as we will see on the programme this week, they reaped their just reward. And the reason we are looking at this story of these people, is that when we are in the midst of the storm, as we so often are, we lose our bearings. We so often lose sight of those things that really matter and for me, as I have spent time in that story, it has clarified some things for me – it's brought them into sharp focus and my hunch is that as you and I spend some time together today, well, maybe you will find that too. So let's just recap briefly on this story of Hannah. Hannah married a man called Elkanah and he had two wives: Peninnah and Hannah. And Hannah didn't have children and Peninnah did, so Peninnah would taunt Hannah and there was a lot of pain around that, so Hannah goes to God – she pours out her heart to Him in the temple and she gets God's peace. It is what always happens when we do that. Eli, on the other hand, is the priest that is at the temple at the time when Hannah comes to pour her heart out and he mistakes what Hannah is doing – he thinks she is drunk. And the priest Eli and his sons Hophni and Phinehas, they are bad dudes – they are plundering the sacrifices, they are not honouring God and there is a real contrast between these two – between Hannah and her family and Eli and his - this nobody Hannah and this priest Eli. See that's what we so often miss in life – God is hidden; He is invisible – we forget about Him – we go on living our lives, wondering why things are going from bad to worse. And in the middle of this story (last week we stumbled across this verse) when God was pronouncing His judgement on Eli and his family – you can read this if you have a Bible, grab it, open it up at First Samuel chapter 2 and verse 30. God said: Those who honour Me, I will honour but those who despise Me shall be treated with contempt. And that's kind of the pivot on which this whole story turns and this week on the programme we are going to look at how things turned out for Hannah and for Eli. There was a sharp contrast to their approach to God and there is a sharp contrast in how things turn out for them. It tells us a lot about God; it clarifies the confusion in the midst of our storm when we can't see God, necessarily. When that happens we know how to put our feet on solid ground. Well let's start today with Hannah – this pain of being childless and the taunts of the other wife. Childless couples the world over, know how painful this is. So she goes to God – let's have a look at it again in First Samuel chapter 1, beginning at verse 9 and she pours her heart out. Once they had finished eating and drinking at Shiloh, Hannah stood up. Now Eli the priest was sitting on a chair by the doorpost of the Lord's temple. In the bitterness of her soul, Hannah wept much and prayed to the Lord as she made a vow saying "O Lord Almighty, if You will only look upon Your servant's misery and remember me and not forget Your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the Lord for all the days of his life and no razor will ever be used on his head." Then she went on her way, ate something and her face was no longer downcast. Let's take a look to see what happened next. First Samuel chapter 1, verse 19: Straight after this, early the next morning they rise, they worship before the Lord and then they go back their home in Ramah. Elkanah lay with his wife Hannah and the Lord remembered her so in the course of time Hannah conceived and gave birth to a son. She named his Samuel, saying "Because I asked the Lord for him." When the man Elkanah went up with his family to offer the annual sacrifice to the Lord and to fulfil his vow, Hannah didn't go – she said to her husband "After the boy is weaned I will take him up and present him before the Lord and he will live there always." "Do what seems best to you," Elkanah, her husband told her, "Stay here until you have weaned him, only may the Lord make good His Word." So the woman stayed at home, nursed her son until she had weaned him. After he was weaned, she took the boy with her, young as he was, along with a three year old bull, an ephah of flour and a skin of wine and brought him to the house of the Lord at Shiloh. When they had slaughtered the bull, they brought the boy to Eli and she said to him "As surely as you live, my lord, I am the woman who stood here beside you, praying to the Lord. I prayed for this child and the Lord has granted me what I ask of Him so now I give him to the Lord for his whole life – he will be given over to the Lord and she worshipped the Lord there." See, Hannah had this terrible pain – she came to God with this impossible prayer – it was a humble and heartfelt prayer and God honours that. See we so underestimate the power of humble prayer; prayer from the heart; prayer that just lays it out before God the way we see it and feel it. God honours that! When He honours her with the impossible, she honours God back and gives her son over to God to serve at the temple for the rest of his life. Now that's easy to gloss over that, but can you imagine? I mean, she wanted her son more than anything and now she gives him up to honour God. God honours that – her incredible heart was to honour God, so she does. She honours Him by giving up the one thing that she desired most – her son. And what's more, she gives over her most precious to be under the wicked Eli and his sons. Now figure that out! It's not exactly a great strategic choice – this young, impressionable child, but see, God honours those who honour Him. And God honours her and protects young Samuel, and we will see, raises young Samuel up and makes him strong. See, the more we honour God, the more He honours us. Look at this - First Samuel chapter 3, verse 7: Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord. The Word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him. And verse 19: The Lord was with Samuel as he grew up and He let none of His Words fall to the ground and all of Israel, from Dan to Beersheba recognised that Samuel was attested as a prophet of the Lord. The Lord continued to appear at Shiloh and there He revealed Himself to Samuel through His Word. And the word of Samuel came to all of Israel." You see, God honoured her in her storm! Young Samuel went on to become the chief priest, the prophet, the judge of all of Israel. Why? Because this nobody; this woman Hannah, honoured her God, so simply by pouring her heart out to Him, by trusting Him. I want you to notice how insignificant that may have appeared to her at the time. She had this big hairy giant; this huge storm; the pain of being childless, the taunts of Peninnah, it was impossible but for God nothing is impossible. God honours those who honour Him! She honoured God in her naivety – giving young Sam over to Eli. And even there in that impossible situation, God honoured her and He honoured young Sam. So simple – it's so powerful.   The Contrast Continues I guess intuitively, we understand that the things we say and do, the way we think and behave – well, they have consequences. There is a link between cause and effect. We kind of know that but how easy is it to delude ourselves in this area; to make excuse for ourselves? To live out our own selfish desires and pretend that, well, really, that cause and effect stuff applies to other people but not to me! You know what I am talking about. We deny it, we deny it, we deny it and all along the warning signs grow – the storm clouds start to gather over the horizon. But sometimes it's not till that first clap of thunder that we take any notice and then, so often, it's too late. The storm has gathered momentum and all we can do is brace ourselves for when it hits. We are going to spend some time in that space today with a man called Eli because he was in exactly that situation and he left it too late. Let's make no mistake, there is a definite link in God's economy between cause and effect, especially as it turns out, in our relationship with God. We have been working our way, in this series, through the story of Hannah, this woman who honoured God and Eli, the priest, a man with his sons who did the exact opposite – even though he should have known better. And right now I want to look at how things turn out for Eli and his sons, Hophni and Phinehas. These were men who were priests – their job was to be shepherding Israel, bringing them close to their God. Instead Hophni and Phinehas were plundering the sacrifices of God's people, they were sleeping with prostitutes – they were doing anything but honouring God. Look at how God reacts to that. If you have got a Bible, open it at First Samuel chapter 3, verse 1. The boy Samuel ministered before the Lord under Eli. In those days the Word of the Lord was rare. There were not many visions. One night Eli, whose eyes were becoming so weak that he could barely see, was lying down in his usual place. The lamp of God had not yet gone out and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the Lord. Remember Samuel is Hannah's son. He was in the temple where the Ark of God was. Then the Lord called "Samuel" and Samuel answered "Here I am" and he ran in to Eli and said "Here I am, you called me." But Eli said "I didn't call you. God back, lie down." So he went and lay down. Again the Lord called "Samuel" and Samuel go up and went to Eli and said "Here I am, you called me." "My son," Eli said, "I didn't call you, go back, lie down." Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, the Word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him. The Lord called Samuel a third time and Samuel got up and went to Eli and said "Here I am, you called me." Then Eli finally realised that the Lord was calling the boy so Eli told Samuel "Go and lie down and if God calls you again, say "Speak Lord for Your servant is listening." So Samuel went and lay down in his place so the Lord came and stood there, calling as at the other times "Samuel, Samuel". Then Samuel said "Speak for Your servant is listening." And the Lord said to Samuel "See, I am about to do something in Israel that will make the ears of everyone who hears of it tingle. At that time I will carry out against Eli everything that I spoke against his family from beginning to end, for I told him that I would judge his family forever, because of the sin that he knew about. His sons made themselves contemptible and he failed to restrain them, therefore, I swore to the house of Eli, the guilt of Eli's house will never be atoned for by sacrifice of offering." Samuel lay down until morning and then opened the doors of the house of the Lord. He was afraid to tell Eli of the vision but Eli called him and said "Samuel, my son," Samuel answered, "Here I am." "What was it He said to you?" Eli asked. "Do not hide it from me. May God deal with you, be it ever so severely, if you hide from me anything He told you." So Samuel told Eli everything, hiding nothing from him. And Eli said, "He is the Lord. Let Him do what is good in His eyes." Here's the paradox – Samuel is this young kid, he didn't recognise God's voice and finally Eli did. Yet Samuel is the one that listened to God and Eli didn't, even though he knew God's voice. Remember that verse: First Samuel chapter 2, verse 30. "I honour those who honour Me" says God, "but those who despise Me I will treat with contempt." And here it is – it's happening to Eli. Here is this powerful truth working its way out in Eli's life. We can be beetling along in our own selfish ways, ignoring our conscience, treating people with contempt, treating God with contempt, ignoring God but God never stops speaking. And even someone like Samuel can hear Him. If you want to know what He has to say, just listen. He spoke to Eli over and over again but Eli didn't listen. He talks to us over and over again. How? Maybe you were just flicking around, channel surfing today and you happened across this programme – kind of by chance or by accident, it seemed – there you go. God is always trying to communicate with us; to reach out to us but eventually, enough is enough. Eventually we kindle His anger – eventually the time comes when we reap what we have sown and that's exactly what's happened with Eli, Hophni and Phinehas. And here it is coming: the first lightening strike of the storm and what God tells Samuel actually goes on to happen. You can read it in chapter 4, verses 12 to 22. This is a wakeup call! In the storms in life – yea, they happen – and sometimes they are of our own doing, as it was for Eli and his sons. And we keep going and we keep going and we keep going and deluding ourselves, pretending there is no cause and effect, but there is. Eventually, there is a day of reckoning, here in this life and one day, you and I will stand before God and He will judge us and He will! We may not like the idea, but that doesn't change anything. Today is a wakeup call. Perhaps we are in one of those stormy times of life and you know, when things are going badly we are tempted all the more to behave badly. This truth rings out – "I will honour those who honour Me but those who despise Me, will be treated with contempt." Those are the words of the sovereign God, the King of Kings, and the Lord of Lords who is above all things and there is no solid ground beneath the feet of those who turn their backs on God. None! It might feel like that for a while but it will crumble.   Heading Off Without God I have said a few times that I am a confirmed landlubber – give me solid ground beneath my feet any day – I love good old terra firma. You know, what we have seen with Eli is Eli heading off in the wrong direction and you and I have done that too. How do we stop doing that? How do we not go in that place? Because it is so easy for us to head off there, go in the wrong direction, like Eli and his sons Hophni and Phinehas and plunder sacrifices and do all the wrong stuff that they did, in our own lives and forget that God honours those who honour Him. There is an executive summary of what God thinks about Eli, Hophni and Phinehas. It's in First Samuel chapter 2, verse 17. It says: The sin of the young men was very great in the sight of the Lord for they treated the offerings of the Lord with contempt. And remember the central theme – the pivot on which this whole story turns is in First Samuel 2, verse 30. God says: I will honour those who honour Me and those who despise Me, I will treat with contempt. Now there is a great part to this story; a great adjunct that goes with this story and it's about what happens when Israel just takes God for granted. This bad stuff has been happening among the priesthood and Israel ignores it and just expects God to keep on blessing them. Let's pick it up in First Samuel chapter 4. See, the Israelites went out to fight the Philistines, the Israelites were camped at Ebenezer, the Philistines at Aphek. The Philistines deployed all their forces to meet Israel and as the battle spread, Israel was defeated by the Philistines who killed about four thousand of their men. When the soldiers returned to camp, the elders of Israel said "Why did the Lord bring defeat on us today before the Philistines? Let's bring the Ark of the Covenant from Shiloh so that it may go with us and save us from the hand of our enemies. So the people sent men to Shiloh, they brought back the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord Almighty, who was enthroned between the cherubim and Eli's two sons Hophni and Phinehas were there with the Ark of the Covenant of God. And when the Ark of the Lord's covenant came into the camp, all of Israel raised such a great shout that the ground shook. Hearing the uproar, the Philistines ask "What are those Hebrews shouting about? When they learned that the Ark of the Lord had come into the camp, the Philistines were afraid. "A God has come into their camp" they said "we are in trouble. Nothing like this has ever happen before, woe to us! Who will deliver us from the hand of these mighty gods? They are the gods who struck the Egyptians with all kinds of plagues in the desert. Be strong Philistines, be men or you will be subject to the Hebrews as they have been to you – be men and fight." So the Philistines fought and the Israelites were defeated and every man fled to his tent. The slaughter was very great. Israel lost thirty thousand foot soldiers, the Ark of the Covenant of God was captured and Eli's two sons Hophni and Phinehas died. See, Israel is so used to God being on their side, they just kind of head off, assuming that He was, despite the fact that all this bad stuff was going on. Despite the fact that the two priests Hophni and Phinehas were dishonouring, they were despising God - they were doing what was wrong. They deluded themselves – see, there is a cause and effect. No, no, she'll be right! God is always on my side, He is a good God, and He blesses me. See, we take this mighty God, who created the whole universe and expect Him to become our performing poodle – don't we? He does tricks on our command, He comes along behind us. Their first defeat, they get defeated and they lose three thousand men – what do they do? They go and send for the Covenant of God – "Let's bring God to us, let's make God do what we want Him to do, to protect us against the Philistines." But God is not like that! God is an awesome, mighty, powerful and good God and when we start dishonouring Him let's not expect Him to put our feet on solid ground – let's not expect Him to keep honouring us. He always loves us – He'll always forgive us; He'll always bring us close but on His terms, not ours. We can't sow dishonour in God's direction and expect to receive honour from Him in return. See the humiliation of this story is: they treat God like a performing poodle, by bringing Him to them and in fact the Ark of the Covenant is captured by the Philistines. This was the place of the very presence of God Himself and over the next couple of weeks we will discover that people, when they realised what they actually had, these Philistines, all they wanted to do was to get rid of Him. But that's for another day. Today, the simple message of this story is this: we can't go living out a life of stiff necked rebellion and expect God to toddle along behind us on the leash and bless us on cue. We just can't! God is a powerful and mighty God. You know when you put it that way it's pretty plainly obvious, isn't it? And to tell you the truth, that's my agenda today – to make that plainly obvious. It's blindingly, glimpsingly obvious. Let's all take a big wakeup call here. When a storm hits, do you want solid ground beneath your feet? Do you want to know that God is with you? Do you want that certain knowledge that: well, He is going to bless you, no matter what this world throws at you? Gotta tell you – I sure do! And let me get back to the central point; the central theme that the sovereign God wants to get across to us today through His Word. First Samuel chapter 2, verse 30. God says: I honour those who honour Me but those who despise Me will be treated with contempt. God is a sovereign God. God is the King of Kings. God is the Lord of Lords. We had better stop treating Him as thought He is not. You just can't send for God and expect Him to show up when we have been dishonouring Him. Hophni and Phinehas found that out because just as the man of God had prophesied, they were both killed on that same day. And later on in the story we see Eli actually died on that same day as well. God is slow to anger but God does anger and He can't bless our rebellion because if He does, we'll think "Oh great, I can do anything I want and He'll bless it." But anything that I want is not the place of intimacy between God and me any more than adultery is the place of intimacy between a man and a wife. See just to underscore this point, this wasn't some small defeat by the Philistines, it was the mother of all defeats. How many Israelites were killed? Four thousand and then thirty thousand! That is a lot of people! And the irony of it all is that God's people did not understand the power of their Almighty God but the Philistines did. When the Philistines heard that God was in the camp they were afraid. I want to ram this home today – get right in your face with this: if we head off in our own direction, in our strength, in our own selfish ways – on our own without the blessing and covering of the power of God, we are going to come a cropper. We are not going to have any solid ground – if we do that we will reap what we sow and there is no solid ground in that place. None, only trouble! God honours those who honour Him but those who despise Him will be treated with contempt.

Featuring Abimelech and Abraham's covenant in Genesis 21:22-34.Don't forget to check out our website! https://treasurehuntpodcast.wixsite.com/realtreasure

And Hezekiah sent to all Israel and Judah, and wrote letters also to Ephraim and Manasseh, that they should come to the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, to keep the passover unto the Lord God of Israel.2 For the king had taken counsel, and his princes, and all the congregation in Jerusalem, to keep the passover in the second month.3 For they could not keep it at that time, because the priests had not sanctified themselves sufficiently, neither had the people gathered themselves together to Jerusalem.4 And the thing pleased the king and all the congregation.5 So they established a decree to make proclamation throughout all Israel, from Beersheba even to Dan, that they should come to keep the passover unto the Lord God of Israel at Jerusalem: for they had not done it of a long time in such sort as it was written.6 So the posts went with the letters from the king and his princes throughout all Israel and Judah, and according to the commandment of the king, saying, Ye children of Israel, turn again unto the Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, and he will return to the remnant of you, that are escaped out of the hand of the kings of Assyria.7 And be not ye like your fathers, and like your brethren, which trespassed against the Lord God of their fathers, who therefore gave them up to desolation, as ye see.8 Now be ye not stiffnecked, as your fathers were, but yield yourselves unto the Lord, and enter into his sanctuary, which he hath sanctified for ever: and serve the Lord your God, that the fierceness of his wrath may turn away from you.9 For if ye turn again unto the Lord, your brethren and your children shall find compassion before them that lead them captive, so that they shall come again into this land: for the Lord your God is gracious and merciful, and will not turn away his face from you, if ye return unto him.10 So the posts passed from city to city through the country of Ephraim and Manasseh even unto Zebulun: but they laughed them to scorn, and mocked them.11 Nevertheless divers of Asher and Manasseh and of Zebulun humbled themselves, and came to Jerusalem.12 Also in Judah the hand of God was to give them one heart to do the commandment of the king and of the princes, by the word of the Lord.13 And there assembled at Jerusalem much people to keep the feast of unleavened bread in the second month, a very great congregation.14 And they arose and took away the altars that were in Jerusalem, and all the altars for incense took they away, and cast them into the brook Kidron.15 Then they killed the passover on the fourteenth day of the second month: and the priests and the Levites were ashamed, and sanctified themselves, and brought in the burnt offerings into the house of the Lord.16 And they stood in their place after their manner, according to the law of Moses the man of God: the priests sprinkled the blood, which they received of the hand of the Levites.17 For there were many in the congregation that were not sanctified: therefore the Levites had the charge of the killing of the passovers for every one that was not clean, to sanctify them unto the Lord.18 For a multitude of the people, even many of Ephraim, and Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun, had not cleansed themselves, yet did they eat the passover otherwise than it was written. But Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, The good Lord pardon every one19 That prepareth his heart to seek God, the Lord God of his fathers, though he be not cleansed according to the purification of the sanctuary.20 And the Lord hearkened to Hezekiah, and healed the people.21 And the children of Israel that were present at Jerusalem kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days with great gladness: and the Levites and the priests praised the Lord day by day, singing with loud instruments unto the Lord.22 And Hezekiah spake comfortably unto all the Levites that taught the good knowledge of the Lord: and they did eat throughout the feast seven days, offering peace offerings, and making confession to the Lord God of their fathers.23 And the whole assembly took counsel to keep other seven days: and they kept other seven days with gladness.24 For Hezekiah king of Judah did give to the congregation a thousand bullocks and seven thousand sheep; and the princes gave to the congregation a thousand bullocks and ten thousand sheep: and a great number of priests sanctified themselves.25 And all the congregation of Judah, with the priests and the Levites, and all the congregation that came out of Israel, and the strangers that came out of the land of Israel, and that dwelt in Judah, rejoiced.26 So there was great joy in Jerusalem: for since the time of Solomon the son of David king of Israel there was not the like in Jerusalem.27 Then the priests the Levites arose and blessed the people: and their voice was heard, and their prayer came up to his holy dwelling place, even unto heaven.

Room To Breathe pt. 2 | MAY 10, 2026Pastor Wes MorrisI Kings 19:1-9 (NIV) Now Ahab told Jezebel everything Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah to say, “May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like that of one of them.”Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there, while he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness. He came to a broom bush, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, Lord,” he said. “Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.” Then he lay down under the bush and fell asleep.All at once an angel touched him and said, “Get up and eat.” He looked around, and there by his head was some bread baked over hot coals, and a jar of water. He ate and drank and then lay down again.The angel of the Lord came back a second time and touched him and said, “Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you.” So he got up and ate and drank. Strengthened by that food, he traveled forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God. There he went into a cave and spent the night.√ GOD MEETS US IN THE WILDERNESS, NOT JUST THE BREAKTHROUGH.I Kings 19:4-5 (NIV) “I have had enough, Lord,” he said. “Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.” Then he lay down under the bush and fell asleep. All at once an angel touched him...√ GOD SEES WHAT NO ONE ELSE UNDERSTANDS.I Kings 19:6 (ESV) And he looked, and behold, there was at his head a cake baked on hot stones and a jar of water. And he ate and drank and lay down again. √ GOD CARES ABOUT WHAT'S HAPPENING IN YOU, NOT JUST WHAT'S HAPPENING THROUGH YOU.I Kings 19:9-12 (NIV) He came to a cave and camped there, and the word of the Lord came to him, and He said to him, “Why are you here, Elijah?”And he said, “I have been very zealous for the Lord, Lord of Hosts, for the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, thrown down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword, and I alone am left, and they seek to take my life.”He said, “Go and stand on the mountain before the Lord.” And, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind split the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind, an earthquake came, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake, a fire came, but the Lord was not in the fire, and after the fire, a still, small voice. THE GOD WHO SEESI. BE HONEST WITH GOD ABOUT WHAT'S HAPPENING INSIDE OF YOU.Psalm 62:8 (NLT) O my people, trust in him at all times. Pour out your heart to him, for God is our refuge.Where we bring our honesty, God brings His healing.II. LET GOD CARE FOR YOU TOO.Matthew 11:28 (NIV) Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.III. TRUST THAT GOD IS STILL WORKING IN QUIET SEASONS.Isaiah 30:15 (TLB) For the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, says: Only in returning to me and waiting for me will you be saved; in quietness and confidence is your strength...

Daily Dose of Hope May 12, 2026   Name of God: El Olam – The Everlasting God Scripture: Genesis 21:33: Isaiah 40:28, 26:4, Jeremiah 10:10, Psalm 90:1-2   Prayer:  El Olam, Thank You that You are the God of eternity. When my heart fears change, remind me that Your love never ends. When I grow tired, lift me into Your everlasting strength. Anchor my life in Your promises and help me live today in light of eternity. Amen.   Welcome back to the Daily Dose of Hope, the devotional and podcast that complements the New Hope Church daily Bible reading plan.  We are currently in a study on the names of God in the Old Testament.  Names in ancient times were very significant and the various names of God are incredibly significant.  Each divine name illustrates a particular aspect of God's character and being.  The more we learn about God's names, the more we learn about God's character.   The name of God that we are focusing on today is El Olam.  The Hebrew word Olam means eternity, forever, everlasting, unending. Thus, when the Scripture speaks of God as El Olam, it is referring to him as the Everlasting God.  It is reminding us that God stands outside of time. He is not bound by beginnings or endings, by clocks or calendars. He is the God who was, who is, and who is to come.  For us, who live in a world where things are temporary with many changes, El Olam is like an anchor.  He is the one who never changes, whose promises are sure and strong throughout all time, and whose love is eternal.   In Genesis 21:33, Abraham called on the name of the Lord, the Everlasting God (El Olam), after planting a tree in Beersheba as a reminder of God's enduring covenant.  In Isaiah 40, some of my very favorite Scripture, the prophet calls God the everlasting one.  He is the one who does not grow tired and weary, and He is the one who no one can comprehend. In Psalm 90, we read that God was everlasting to everlasting before even the earth was created.  When Scripture uses Olam, it's not just talking about "a very long time." It is talking about foreverness — there is absolutely no end.  That is hard for us to wrap our brains around! What does that mean for us? Olam means God's mercy never runs out. Olam means His Word is eternally true. Olam means His kingdom cannot be shaken. For believers, Olam is not just about God's eternal nature. It is also about the eternal life He offers us in Jesus. Our lives don't end when our earthly bodies die.  Our life is woven into God's eternal plan. His promises don't have an expiration date and  His love never grows old.   Blessings, Pastor Vicki  

Joash was seven years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem. His mother's name also was Zibiah of Beersheba.2 And Joash did that which was right in the sight of the Lord all the days of Jehoiada the priest.3 And Jehoiada took for him two wives; and he begat sons and daughters.4 And it came to pass after this, that Joash was minded to repair the house of the Lord.5 And he gathered together the priests and the Levites, and said to them, Go out unto the cities of Judah, and gather of all Israel money to repair the house of your God from year to year, and see that ye hasten the matter. Howbeit the Levites hastened it not.6 And the king called for Jehoiada the chief, and said unto him, Why hast thou not required of the Levites to bring in out of Judah and out of Jerusalem the collection, according to the commandment of Moses the servant of the Lord, and of the congregation of Israel, for the tabernacle of witness?7 For the sons of Athaliah, that wicked woman, had broken up the house of God; and also all the dedicated things of the house of the Lord did they bestow upon Baalim.8 And at the king's commandment they made a chest, and set it without at the gate of the house of the Lord.9 And they made a proclamation through Judah and Jerusalem, to bring in to the Lord the collection that Moses the servant of God laid upon Israel in the wilderness.10 And all the princes and all the people rejoiced, and brought in, and cast into the chest, until they had made an end.11 Now it came to pass, that at what time the chest was brought unto the king's office by the hand of the Levites, and when they saw that there was much money, the king's scribe and the high priest's officer came and emptied the chest, and took it, and carried it to his place again. Thus they did day by day, and gathered money in abundance.12 And the king and Jehoiada gave it to such as did the work of the service of the house of the Lord, and hired masons and carpenters to repair the house of the Lord, and also such as wrought iron and brass to mend the house of the Lord.13 So the workmen wrought, and the work was perfected by them, and they set the house of God in his state, and strengthened it.14 And when they had finished it, they brought the rest of the money before the king and Jehoiada, whereof were made vessels for the house of the Lord, even vessels to minister, and to offer withal, and spoons, and vessels of gold and silver. And they offered burnt offerings in the house of the Lord continually all the days of Jehoiada.15 But Jehoiada waxed old, and was full of days when he died; an hundred and thirty years old was he when he died.16 And they buried him in the city of David among the kings, because he had done good in Israel, both toward God, and toward his house.17 Now after the death of Jehoiada came the princes of Judah, and made obeisance to the king. Then the king hearkened unto them.18 And they left the house of the Lord God of their fathers, and served groves and idols: and wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for this their trespass.19 Yet he sent prophets to them, to bring them again unto the Lord; and they testified against them: but they would not give ear.20 And the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest, which stood above the people, and said unto them, Thus saith God, Why transgress ye the commandments of the Lord, that ye cannot prosper? because ye have forsaken the Lord, he hath also forsaken you.21 And they conspired against him, and stoned him with stones at the commandment of the king in the court of the house of the Lord.22 Thus Joash the king remembered not the kindness which Jehoiada his father had done to him, but slew his son. And when he died, he said, The Lord look upon it, and require it.23 And it came to pass at the end of the year, that the host of Syria came up against him: and they came to Judah and Jerusalem, and destroyed all the princes of the people from among the people, and sent all the spoil of them unto the king of Damascus.24 For the army of the Syrians came with a small company of men, and the Lord delivered a very great host into their hand, because they had forsaken the Lord God of their fathers. So they executed judgment against Joash.25 And when they were departed from him, (for they left him in great diseases,) his own servants conspired against him for the blood of the sons of Jehoiada the priest, and slew him on his bed, and he died: and they buried him in the city of David, but they buried him not in the sepulchres of the kings.26 And these are they that conspired against him; Zabad the son of Shimeath an Ammonitess, and Jehozabad the son of Shimrith a Moabitess.27 Now concerning his sons, and the greatness of the burdens laid upon him, and the repairing of the house of God, behold, they are written in the story of the book of the kings. And Amaziah his son reigned in his stead.

And Jehoshaphat the king of Judah returned to his house in peace to Jerusalem.2 And Jehu the son of Hanani the seer went out to meet him, and said to king Jehoshaphat, Shouldest thou help the ungodly, and love them that hate the Lord? therefore is wrath upon thee from before the Lord.3 Nevertheless there are good things found in thee, in that thou hast taken away the groves out of the land, and hast prepared thine heart to seek God.4 And Jehoshaphat dwelt at Jerusalem: and he went out again through the people from Beersheba to mount Ephraim, and brought them back unto the Lord God of their fathers.5 And he set judges in the land throughout all the fenced cities of Judah, city by city,6 And said to the judges, Take heed what ye do: for ye judge not for man, but for the Lord, who is with you in the judgment.7 Wherefore now let the fear of the Lord be upon you; take heed and do it: for there is no iniquity with the Lord our God, nor respect of persons, nor taking of gifts.8 Moreover in Jerusalem did Jehoshaphat set of the Levites, and of the priests, and of the chief of the fathers of Israel, for the judgment of the Lord, and for controversies, when they returned to Jerusalem.9 And he charged them, saying, Thus shall ye do in the fear of the Lord, faithfully, and with a perfect heart.10 And what cause soever shall come to you of your brethren that dwell in your cities, between blood and blood, between law and commandment, statutes and judgments, ye shall even warn them that they trespass not against the Lord, and so wrath come upon you, and upon your brethren: this do, and ye shall not trespass.11 And, behold, Amariah the chief priest is over you in all matters of the Lord; and Zebadiah the son of Ishmael, the ruler of the house of Judah, for all the king's matters: also the Levites shall be officers before you. Deal courageously, and the Lord shall be with the good.

Both texts reveal God meeting people unexpectedly on the journey and awakening them to holy ground they didn't recognize at first. Luke 24:13–35 (ESV)That very day two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and they were talking with each other about all these things that had happened. While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were kept from recognizing him. And he said to them, “What is this conversation that you are holding with each other as you walk?” And they stood still, looking sad. Then one of them, named Cleopas, answered him, “Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?” And he said to them, “What things?” And they said to him, “Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him. But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things happened. Moreover, some women of our company amazed us. They were at the tomb early in the morning, and when they did not find his body, they came back saying that they had even seen a vision of angels, who said that he was alive. Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see.” And he said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.So they drew near to the village to which they were going. He acted as if he were going farther, but they urged him strongly, saying, “Stay with us, for it is toward evening and the day is now far spent.” So he went in to stay with them. When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them. And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And he vanished from their sight. They said to each other, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?” And they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem. And they found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together, saying, “The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!” Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he was known to them in the breaking of the bread.Genesis 28:10–17 (ESV)Jacob left Beersheba and went toward Haran. And he came to a certain place and stayed there that night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place to sleep. And he dreamed, and behold, there was a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven. And behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it! And behold, the Lord stood above it and said, “I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring. Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and in you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed. Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.” And he was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.”

Welcome to The Times of Israel's Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what's happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world. Health reporter Diana Bletter joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan for today's episode. Israel and Lebanon held a historic summit on Tuesday in Washington, DC, as envoys for the two nations met with the hopes of reaching a peace deal that would end decades of conflict. The talks ended without a clear way forward on the goal of demilitarizing Hezbollah and no date for a follow-up meeting had been set as of Tuesday evening. On Tuesday morning, the Iranian-backed terror organization Hezbollah fired dozens of rockets to Israel, sending tens of thousands of Israelis to bomb shelters and wounding one. Bletter explains what life is like in the north and focuses in on a visit she paid to Ora Hatan in Shtula. Hatan, who will light a torch next week for Israel's Independence Day, has cooked thousands of meals for IDF soldiers since the conflict erupted in the north on October 8, 2023. A Beersheba family court judge on Friday ruled that the sperm of Yotam Haim, an Israeli hostage who was mistakenly killed by troops after escaping Hamas captivity in Gaza, may be used to conceive a child, saying it was his express wish before his death. Bletter delves into some of the 250 cases of postmortem sperm retrieval and the questions the procedure raises. Check out The Times of Israel's ongoing liveblog for more updates. For further reading: Israeli, Lebanese envoys hold historic summit in Washington to discuss peace deal Judge rules slain hostage’s family may use his sperm with a surrogate Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by Gabriella Jacobs and edited by Ari Schlacht. IMAGE: Ora Hatan’s family restaurant, Hemdat HaGalil, in Shtula, destroyed by Hezbollah rockets in 2024, on April 12, 2026. (Diana Bletter/Times of Israel)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A new generation in Israel is rediscovering identity, meaning, and sovereignty — this conversation explores what comes next. This episode is in Hebrew.Recorded under missile fire in Petah Tikva, Yishai Fleisher and Moshe Feiglin explore the profound shift in Israeli consciousness since October 7th.A new generation is emerging — one no longer focused solely on survival, but driven by a deep thirst for identity, purpose, and connection to its roots.In this wide-ranging conversation, they discuss: The reimagining of Route 60 as the “Bible Road,” connecting Beersheba to the Sea of Galilee — and why this vision is gaining traction even among secular Israelis  The concept of “organicity”: why Torah, the people, and the land are inseparable  The Zehut vision — and why the political right has struggled to offer a compelling alternative  The two pillars of a renewed national message: identity and freedom  The symbolism of the yellow ribbon vs. the Temple patch — and what it reveals about the deeper struggle for Jewish consciousness “The people are searching for what it means to be Jewish. They didn't erase it — they're thirsty for it.”This is a conversation about leadership, identity, and the transition from a “ghetto mindset” to a confident, sovereign, regional vision.PODCAST INFO:Podcast website: https://yishaifleisher.com/podcastYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/YishaiFleisherTVSUPPORT & CONNECT:Buy Me a Coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/yishaiFight4Israel: https://fight4israel.givecloud.coTwitter: https://twitter.com/YishaiFleisherLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yishaifleisherFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/YishaiFleisher  Support the show

And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel.2 And David said to Joab and to the rulers of the people, Go, number Israel from Beersheba even to Dan; and bring the number of them to me, that I may know it.3 And Joab answered, The Lord make his people an hundred times so many more as they be: but, my lord the king, are they not all my lord's servants? why then doth my lord require this thing? why will he be a cause of trespass to Israel?4 Nevertheless the king's word prevailed against Joab. Wherefore Joab departed, and went throughout all Israel, and came to Jerusalem.5 And Joab gave the sum of the number of the people unto David. And all they of Israel were a thousand thousand and an hundred thousand men that drew sword: and Judah was four hundred threescore and ten thousand men that drew sword.6 But Levi and Benjamin counted he not among them: for the king's word was abominable to Joab.7 And God was displeased with this thing; therefore he smote Israel.8 And David said unto God, I have sinned greatly, because I have done this thing: but now, I beseech thee, do away the iniquity of thy servant; for I have done very foolishly.9 And the Lord spake unto Gad, David's seer, saying,10 Go and tell David, saying, Thus saith the Lord, I offer thee three things: choose thee one of them, that I may do it unto thee.11 So Gad came to David, and said unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Choose thee12 Either three years' famine; or three months to be destroyed before thy foes, while that the sword of thine enemies overtaketh thee; or else three days the sword of the Lord, even the pestilence, in the land, and the angel of the Lord destroying throughout all the coasts of Israel. Now therefore advise thyself what word I shall bring again to him that sent me.13 And David said unto Gad, I am in a great strait: let me fall now into the hand of the Lord; for very great are his mercies: but let me not fall into the hand of man.14 So the Lord sent pestilence upon Israel: and there fell of Israel seventy thousand men.15 And God sent an angel unto Jerusalem to destroy it: and as he was destroying, the Lord beheld, and he repented him of the evil, and said to the angel that destroyed, It is enough, stay now thine hand. And the angel of the Lord stood by the threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite.16 And David lifted up his eyes, and saw the angel of the Lord stand between the earth and the heaven, having a drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders of Israel, who were clothed in sackcloth, fell upon their faces.17 And David said unto God, Is it not I that commanded the people to be numbered? even I it is that have sinned and done evil indeed; but as for these sheep, what have they done? let thine hand, I pray thee, O Lord my God, be on me, and on my father's house; but not on thy people, that they should be plagued.18 Then the angel of the Lord commanded Gad to say to David, that David should go up, and set up an altar unto the Lord in the threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite.19 And David went up at the saying of Gad, which he spake in the name of the Lord.20 And Ornan turned back, and saw the angel; and his four sons with him hid themselves. Now Ornan was threshing wheat.21 And as David came to Ornan, Ornan looked and saw David, and went out of the threshingfloor, and bowed himself to David with his face to the ground.22 Then David said to Ornan, Grant me the place of this threshingfloor, that I may build an altar therein unto the Lord: thou shalt grant it me for the full price: that the plague may be stayed from the people.23 And Ornan said unto David, Take it to thee, and let my lord the king do that which is good in his eyes: lo, I give thee the oxen also for burnt offerings, and the threshing instruments for wood, and the wheat for the meat offering; I give it all.24 And king David said to Ornan, Nay; but I will verily buy it for the full price: for I will not take that which is thine for the Lord, nor offer burnt offerings without cost.25 So David gave to Ornan for the place six hundred shekels of gold by weight.26 And David built there an altar unto the Lord, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings, and called upon the Lord; and he answered him from heaven by fire upon the altar of burnt offering.27 And the Lord commanded the angel; and he put up his sword again into the sheath thereof.28 At that time when David saw that the Lord had answered him in the threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite, then he sacrificed there.29 For the tabernacle of the Lord, which Moses made in the wilderness, and the altar of the burnt offering, were at that season in the high place at Gibeon.30 But David could not go before it to enquire of God: for he was afraid because of the sword of the angel of the Lord.

Good Friday Service (4/3/26) // Genesis 22 (ESV) // The Sacrifice of Isaac // 1 After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 2 He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” 3 So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac. And he cut the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. 4 On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar. 5 Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; I and the boy[a] will go over there and worship and come again to you.” 6 And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son. And he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So they went both of them together. 7 And Isaac said to his father Abraham, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” He said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” 8 Abraham said, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So they went both of them together.9 When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10 Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son. 11 But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 12 He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” 13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 So Abraham called the name of that place, “The Lord will provide”;[b] as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”[c]15 And the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven 16 and said, “By myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17 I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his[d] enemies, 18 and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.” 19 So Abraham returned to his young men, and they arose and went together to Beersheba. And Abraham lived at Beersheba.20 Now after these things it was told to Abraham, “Behold, Milcah also has borne children to your brother Nahor: 21 Uz his firstborn, Buz his brother, Kemuel the father of Aram, 22 Chesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel.” 23 (Bethuel fathered Rebekah.) These eight Milcah bore to Nahor, Abraham's brother. 24 Moreover, his concubine, whose name was Reumah, bore Tebah, Gaham, Tahash, and Maacah.Footnotesa. Genesis 22:5 Or young man; also verse 12b. Genesis 22:14 Or will seec. Genesis 22:14 Or he will be seend. Genesis 22:17 Or theirWebsite: ⁠https://mbchicago.org⁠FOLLOW USFacebook: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  / mbc.chicago  ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  / mbc.chicago  ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ TikTok: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  / mbc.chicago  ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 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...⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ #GoodFriday ⁠#Easter⁠⁠ ⁠#DanielBatarseh⁠ ⁠#Bible⁠ ⁠#BibleStudy⁠ ⁠#livechurch⁠ ⁠#churchlive⁠ ⁠#chicagochurch⁠ ⁠#chicagochurches⁠ ⁠#church⁠ ⁠#sermononline⁠

Many of God's servants have experienced spiritual depression and/or spiritual exhaustion. Today we look at 1 Kings 19 and see that Elijah suffered deep spiritual depression right on the heels of spiritual victory. This will be a challenging study as we look at principles for how to deal with it. DISCUSSION AND STUDY QUESTIONS: 1.    The opening verses of 1 Kings 19, what does Ahab tell Jezebel? If you were Jezebel and heard about all the Lord had done in 1 Kings 18, how would you have responded? 2.    Instead, what message does Jezebel send to Elijah in verse 2? Given what just happened in 1 Kings 18, how should Elijah have reacted to Jezebel's threats? How does he react in verse 3? Do you find this surprising? Why or why not? 3.    Verse 3 says that Elijah fled to Beersheba. If you can, go find Beersheba on a map of Israel and Judah from this time period. What does Beersheba's location tell you about the depth of Elijah's fear? 4.    Now look at verse 4. What does Elijah then do? What does his prayer consist of? Is this a prayer of faith or fear?  5.    How do we see God's grace in the help that the angel gives to Elijah in verses 5 to 8? 6.    After this, where does Elijah go in verse 8? Historically speaking, what major events have happened already in this place? Why do you think Elijah went there? 7.    In verse 9, why do you think the Lord asked him, "What are you doing here, Elijah?" 8.    What was the content and tone of Elijah's answer in verse 10? What does this reflect about his spiritual depression? Where do you think this spiritual depression came from?  9.    What was the Lord's answer to Him in verses 11 – 14? Why do you think He repeats this question? 10.    People sometimes refer to verse 12 as proof that we can hear a "still, small voice" from God. In reading this passage, is the Lord's voice merely quiet or is it completely silent and only something that Elijah can hear? In other words, was there an actual voice? Do you think that verse supports the idea that people can hear audible messages from God? 11.    Going back to 1 Kings 19, what was Elijah's answer in verse 14? Looking at his answer, what was Elijah really focused on? How was this leading to His spiritual depression? 12.    Do you ever experience spiritual depression after a spiritual victory? What principles does this passage give you for how to deal with those kinds of situations? Check out our Bible Study Guide on the Key Chapters of Genesis! Available on Amazon just in time for the Genesis relaunch in January! To see our dedicated podcast website with access to all our episodes and other resources, visit us at: www.keychapters.org. Find us on all major platforms, or use these direct links: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6OqbnDRrfuyHRmkpUSyoHv Itunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/366-key-chapters-in-the-bible/id1493571819 YouTube: Key Chapters of the Bible on YouTube. As always, we are grateful to be included in the "Top 100 Bible Podcasts to Follow" from Feedspot.com. Also for regularly being awarded "Podcast of the Day" from PlayerFM. Special thanks to Joseph McDade for providing our theme music.   

1 Kings 19Now Ahab told Jezebel everything Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah to say, “May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your           life like that of one of them.”Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there,      while he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness. He came to a broom bush, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. “I have       had enough, Lord,” he said. “Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.” Then he lay down under the bush and fell asleep.All at once an angel touched him and said, “Get up and eat.” He looked around, and there by his head was some bread baked over hot coals, and a jar of water. He ate and drank and then lay down again.The angel of the Lord came back a second time and touched him and said, “Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you.” So he got up and ate and drank. Strengthened by that food, he traveled forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of             God. There he went into a cave and spent the night.     The Lord Appears to Elijah     And the word of the Lord came to him: “What are you doing here, Elijah?”He replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put             your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.”The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.”     Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After             the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. 13When Elijah heard it, he pulled his       cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.     Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”He replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and                     put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.”The Lord said to him, “Go back the way you came, and go to the Desert of Damascus. When you get there, anoint Hazael king over Aram. Also, anoint Jehu son of Nimshi king over Israel, and anoint Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel Meholah to succeed you as prophet.      Jehu will put to death any who escape the sword of Hazael, and Elisha will put to death any who escape the sword of Jehu. Yet I reserve seven thousand in Israel—all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and whose mouths have not kissed him.”

He Is Series Day #5 Jehovah Jireh (God Will Provide) Genesis 22:14 “So Abraham called that place ‘The Lord will provide'; and to this day it is said, ‘On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.'” God asked Abraham to offer Isaac, his only son—the son God had promised Abraham and Sarah would have even though Abraham was about 100 and Sarah about 90. God had said, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” Yet now God was asking Abraham to sacrifice Isaac. This must have been very confusing. Let me read Genesis 22:1–19. Some time later God tested Abraham. He said, “Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied. Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.” Early the next morning Abraham set out with two servants and his son Isaac. On the third day he saw the place in the distance. He said to the servants, “Stay here with the donkey while the boy and I go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.” Abraham placed the wood on Isaac and carried the fire and knife himself. As they walked together Isaac said, “Father, we have the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” When they reached the place God had shown him, Abraham built an altar, arranged the wood, and placed Isaac on it. He reached out his hand to sacrifice his son, but the angel of the Lord called from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham! Do not lay a hand on the boy. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld your only son.” Abraham looked up and saw a ram caught in a thicket. He sacrificed it instead of his son. So Abraham called that place “The Lord Will Provide.” The angel of the Lord called to Abraham again and declared that because of his obedience God would bless him and make his descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. Then Abraham returned to his servants and they went back to Beersheba. I know that was a lot to read, but it is important because we all may face times of testing. Has God ever asked you to do something you didn't understand? Something that seemed to contradict what you thought He had already promised? God told Abraham He would build a nation through Isaac, yet then asked him to sacrifice Isaac. Still, Abraham told his son, “God himself will provide the lamb.” He had faith even though he didn't know what would happen on that mountain. We also see his faith in Genesis 22:5 when he tells the servants, “We will come back to you.” He didn't say I will come back—he said we. How could Abraham be so confident? I think it was for two reasons. First, Abraham truly knew God. He had a close relationship with Him and knew His character. Second, Abraham knew God always keeps His promises. If God said Abraham's descendants would come through Isaac, then Abraham trusted that God would somehow make that happen. This story reminds us that God will provide even when we cannot see how. Abraham didn't understand how Isaac could be sacrificed and still be part of God's promise, but he trusted God anyway. The same can be true for us. We don't have to understand the plan—we simply have to obey what God is asking us to do and trust Him with the rest. What if we looked at the challenges in our lives as tests of faith? Would it change how we respond? Hebrews 11:1 says, “Faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” Can we hold onto hope even when we cannot see the way forward? Hope is not always easy. But what is the alternative? Do we stop hoping so we won't be disappointed? For me, I choose hope—even when it hurts. What if this is the test? What if God only needed me to trust Him one more day? Abraham kept his faith all the way up the mountain. You can too. I know it can be painful when we hope for something and it doesn't happen. I prayed for my friend Iris to be healed from cancer here on earth, yet God healed her in heaven. I prayed for another miracle that didn't come the way I hoped. But I have also seen many times when God did come through—when I had confidence in what I hoped for and assurance in what I could not see. God has worked miracles in ways I may never fully understand. When you struggle to have hope, look to Abraham. When things don't make sense and seem impossible, trust God anyway. God is for you, not against you. He can make a way. Nothing is impossible for Him. Move forward in faith. Dear Jehovah Jireh, please bless everyone listening today. Help us to have the faith of Abraham. Help us to know you deeply and to trust the lives of our loved ones in your hands. Give us the strength and courage to say yes when you ask us to do things we do not understand. We know you are good and that you are for us, not against us. Help us to keep hoping, even when it is hard. Thank you for all you provide. We ask this according to your will and in Jesus' holy name, Amen. Thank you for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. I look forward to seeing you again tomorrow. Remember, Jesus loves you just as you are—and so do I! God is for you, not against you, and we are both rooting for you. Have a blessed day! Today's Word from the Lord was received in September 2025 by a member of my Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group. If you have questions about the prayer group or how to join a meeting, please email CatholicCharismaticPrayerGroup@gmail.com. Today's Word from the Lord is:“I say again, trust me. I can see the full picture. I know what you need for eternal life. I walk with you. You only see the present, but I see eternity. Trust me. I know what is best for you, and I will not abandon you.”   www.findingtruenorthcoaching.comCLICK HERE TO DONATECLICK HERE to sign up for Mentoring CLICK HERE to sign up for Daily "Word from the Lord" emailsCLICK HERE to sign up for my newsletter & receive a free audio training about inviting Jesus into your daily lifeCLICK HERE to buy my book Total Trust in God's Safe Embrace

“Why am I discouraged? Why is my heart so sad? I will put my hope in God! I will praise him again—my Savior and my God!” (Psalm 42:11 NLT) It’s not unusual for even the most spiritual people to have days of doubt. Moses, on one occasion at least, was overwhelmed by his circumstances. After he had listened to the constant complaining of the children of Israel, he said to the Lord, “I can’t carry all these people by myself! The load is far too heavy! If this is how you intend to treat me, just go ahead and kill me. Do me a favor and spare me this misery!” (Numbers 11:14–15 NLT). Elijah, after his contest with the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel, heard that Jezebel had put a contract out on his life. He was overwhelmed by his circumstances, discouraged, uncertain, and filled with doubt. First Kings 19:3–4 says, “Elijah was afraid and fled for his life. He went to Beersheba, a town in Judah, and he left his servant there. Then he went on alone into the wilderness, traveling all day. He sat down under a solitary broom tree and prayed that he might die. ‘I have had enough, Lord,’ he said. ‘Take my life, for I am no better than my ancestors who have already died’” (NLT). The Old Testament prophet Jeremiah struggled occasionally, too. He was ridiculed and harassed for sharing the Word of God—so much so that he wanted to stop. He prayed, “O Lord, you misled me, and I allowed myself to be misled. You are stronger than I am, and you overpowered me. Now I am mocked every day; everyone laughs at me. When I speak, the words burst out. ‘Violence and destruction!’ I shout. So these messages from the Lord have made me a household joke. But if I say I’ll never mention the Lord or speak in his name, his word burns in my heart like a fire. It’s like a fire in my bones! I am worn out trying to hold it in! I can’t do it!” (Jeremiah 20:7–9 NLT). Even the great apostle Paul had moments when he was discouraged. He wrote to the church at Corinth, “We think you ought to know, dear brothers and sisters, about the trouble we went through in the province of Asia. We were crushed and overwhelmed beyond our ability to endure, and we thought we would never live through it” (2 Corinthians 1:8 NLT). So, if you struggle with doubt, uncertainty, anxiety, or depression, you’re in good company. And, like the heroes of the faith, you need to be reminded that we can’t always see the big picture of God’s plan. But we can echo the words of the psalmist who said, “Why am I discouraged? Why is my heart so sad? I will put my hope in God! I will praise him again—my Savior and my God!” (Psalm 42:11 NLT). Remember: We can always trust God’s heart, even when we can’t trace His path. Reflection question: How will you respond when doubt, anxiety, or depression threaten to overwhelm you? Discuss Today's Devo in Harvest Discipleship! — The audio production of the podcast "Greg Laurie: Daily Devotions" utilizes Generative AI technology. This allows us to deliver consistent, high-quality content while preserving Harvest's mission to "know God and make Him known." All devotional content is written and owned by Pastor Greg Laurie. Listen to the Greg Laurie Podcast Become a Harvest PartnerSupport the show: https://harvest.org/supportSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Text: Genesis 37-41 Supplemental Text: The Third Thousand Years chapters 5-6 BYU Lecture 13: Joseph spent his youth in Beersheba. He was a devoted son to Jacob and to God. When he witnessed evil doings by his brothers, Joseph faithfully reported it to his father. This created a trusted bond between father and son, but caused hatred between Joseph and his brothers. At the age of 17, Joseph receives revelations from the Lord through dreams, prophesying that Jacob and Joseph's brothers will bow down to Joseph. This angers his brothers and they plot to kill him. They throw Joseph into a dry well and he is inadvertently captured and sold into slavery for 20 pieces of silver and taken to Egypt. Jacob is told that Joseph is dead and he mourns terribly. Adding to the tragedy, Jacob's father Isaac dies. Joseph is sold to Potiphar, Egypt's chief executioner, but after 11 years in faithful servitude he is imprisoned after being falsely accused by Potiphar's wife. Joseph interprets the dreams of 2 fellow prisoners, a butcher and a baker. He later interprets the dream of Pharoah, who is so impressed with Joseph, he promotes him to be Prime Minister of all Egypt.

What is the kingdom of God?; Crusades?; Studying history; Persuasion vs force; "Stoning"; "Corban"; Idolatry?; Cities of blood - Systems; Cutting hair/skin; Rituals and ceremonies; Making the word of God to none effect; Unmooring words from their meaning; Heredity; Spiritual DNA?; Extra-terrestrials?; Evil appearing as angels of light; Guidance from Holy Spirit; Altars of sacrifice?; Lev 6:2 in that which was delivered - "paqqadown" = to deposit, store, supply (in trust); biet+pi-kuf-dalet-vav-nun; Gen 31:46; Pledges to Pharaoh; Praying at the "Well of Beersheba"?; Jacob going to Egypt; Learning to be Israel; Quicksand; Man having dominion - unalienable rights; "Dress and keep it"; God's trust in men; Angels in Sodom and Gomorrah?; Avoiding repeating historical mistakes; Vanity vs Humility; Recompense; Prodigal son; Lk 15:11; Checking your spirit; False swearing; Setting priorities like God; Atonement?; Replacement and offering to world; Lev 6:8 - law (Towrah); Ex 13:9 tav-vav-resh-tav; Leaven?; "Put to death"?; Nazarite?; Mal 2:6, Mal 4:4; Law of faith; Aaron and his sons; "Burnt offering"; Altars?; Fire?; Aleph-tav untranslated?; Man's faith in God; Social safety net; Linen garment; Breeches?; Ashes?; Baldness?; Reserve fund of the kingdom of God; Daily sacrifice for the (true) needy; Wise giving - witness; Fraud; Going the way of Christ; Uncorrupted social welfare; Freewill offerings; Christ's lineage includes Parthia; Pharisees today; Biting your neighbor; Eating with unleavened bread; Walking in the spirit; Trusting others; No right to social security; Being filled with Holy Spirit; "Court"?; Crooks and crookedness; Strong congregations; "Sabbath" is about debt; half = mem-chet-tzedek-yod-tav-hey; "morning"? Biet-biet-kuf-resh - without delay, right away; "Sweet savor"?; Passover lamb to eat in one night; Sprinkling?; Separate Israelites; v28: Earthen vessel; Using up; "broken" shabar; Judgement-repentance- deliverance; Pride!; Gather faithfully; Tribalism; Doing the will of the Father; Stay humble, my friends.

Genesis 28:10-22Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Harran.     When he reached a certain place, he stopped for the night because the sun had set.     Taking one of the stones there, he put it under his head and lay down to sleep.     He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and          descending on it. There above it stood the Lord, and he said: “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac.     I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south.    All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land.    I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.” He was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.”Early the next morning Jacob took the stone he had placed under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on top of it. He called that place Bethel, though the city used to be called Luz.Then Jacob made a vow, saying,     If God will be with me and will watch over me on this journey I am taking and will give me food to eat and clothes to wear so that I return safely to my father's household, then the Lord will be my God and this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be God's house, and of all that you give me I will give you a tenth.

Abimelech, king of Gerar, recognizes that God has blessed Abraham and sees the importance of being on good terms with such a prominent man. The two come to an agreement intended for themselves and their posterity. That agreement is put to the test when a dispute arises concerning a well of water. The name given to the well, Beersheba, recalls both the oath made there and the prominence of the number seven. Abraham plants a tree there and calls upon the LORD as the Everlasting God. This account of Abimelech and Abraham serves as a reminder that the LORD will bless all nations through Abraham and his offspring.  Rev. Rick Jones, Chaplain and Vice President of Spiritual Life at the Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch in Minot, ND, joins host Rev. Timothy Appel to study Genesis 21:22-34.  To learn more about Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch, visit dakotaranch.org. “In the Beginning” is a series on Sharper Iron that studies Genesis. The first book of Moses sets the stage for God's entire story of salvation. As we learn the beginning of the story, God prepares us to receive the fulfillment of the story: Jesus Christ, the Offspring of the woman who has crushed our enemy's head.  Sharper Iron, hosted by Rev. Timothy Appel, looks at the text of Holy Scripture both in its broad context and its narrow detail, all for the sake of proclaiming Christ crucified and risen for sinners. Two pastors engage with God's Word to sharpen not only their own faith and knowledge, but the faith and knowledge of all who listen. Submit comments or questions to: listener@kfuo.org

Click here for the DRB Daily Sign Up form! TODAY'S SCRIPTURE: Genesis 44–46 and Luke 18 Click HERE to give! One Year Bible Podcast: Join Hunter and Heather Barnes on the Daily Radio Bible, a daily Bible‑in‑a‑year podcast with 20‑minute Scripture readings, Christ‑centered devotion, and guided prayer.This daily Bible reading and devotional invites you to live as a citizen of Jesus' kingdom, reconciled, renewed, and deeply loved. TODAY'S EPISODE: Welcome to the Daily Radio Bible! In this episode, Hunter invites us into the story of Joseph and his family's dramatic reunion, exploring Genesis 44–46 and Luke 18. Together, we'll journey through the emotional moments when Joseph reveals himself to his brothers in Egypt, Jacob uproots his family in faith, and God's promises unfold in unexpected ways. Hunter reflects on the power of perseverance in prayer and encourages us to "never give up," drawing inspiration from Jesus' teachings about persistence, humility, and trust in God's faithfulness. Get ready for heartfelt scripture readings, practical spiritual encouragement, and prayers to start your day with hope. Whether you're seeking guidance, comfort, or simply a daily rhythm in God's word, you're in the right place—so let's dive in together. TODAY'S DEVOTION: Never give up. That's a popular sentiment these days. It's used in sports, in business; it's found on t-shirts and bumper stickers. Giving up is easy. I've done it way too much in my life. I've given up on goals, I've given up on hopes, I've given up on relationships. I'm sad to say that I've given up on way too much that I needed to hold on to in this life. And I've also held on to things I should have given up long ago—resentments, anger, my need to be right, my need for approval. I've held on to these things way too long. Maybe you can relate. It seems like the trick is to give up on the wrong things and never give up on the right things. In Luke 18, Jesus says that we should keep praying and never give up. Prayer seems to be connected to our ability to hold on to the right things. Prayer is a two-way conversation; it's relational. We share our hearts, our fears, our failures, our life with Him. And He shares His life, His word, His heart, His hopes for us. It's a two-way thing. God is speaking to us in prayer, and we are listening to His voice and His leading. We hear from Him, we respond, and we worship Him. Without this relationship, giving up is inevitable. It's just way too easy. But when we pray, we are given the strength to hold on, to endure, to never give up. In today's reading, we hear Jacob listening to God speak to him, late at night, in a place called Beersheba. The last time God spoke to Jacob in Beersheba was many years ago, when he was preparing to leave home, fleeing from his brother. He laid his head on a rock and saw a stairway to heaven with the Lord at the top, and God promised him the land and descendants as numerous as the dust of the earth. Now, years later, God comes to him once again, and again Jacob is having to leave the land God had promised to him. It didn't look like the promise would be fulfilled anytime soon—Jacob was headed in the opposite direction, would even die in a different land without seeing the promise fulfilled. But out in the distance, too far for Jacob to see, God was bringing about the fulfillment of all He had promised. Jacob needed to keep on praying and never give up. God told him that Joseph, his son, would be with him to the end. For us, someone even greater than Joseph is with us—not Jacob's son but God's Son, who will be with us to the very end. Hebrews 11:13 reminds us that all these people died still believing what God had promised them. They did not receive what was promised, but they saw it all from a distance and welcomed it. So keep praying. Never give up. God is faithful. If we live a life of faith, a life of prayer, a life in relationship with Him, then we will have the strength we need to never give up. He who promised is faithful; He will fulfill all His promises. We are the recipients of the promise made to Jacob. That promise that Jacob never got to see with his earthly eyes—God has fulfilled. Most of you aren't from the nation of Israel, yet you are the fulfillment of that promise. You have been included in the blessing. So let's keep praying. Let's never give up. God's Son is with us, and He will be with us to the very end. He will close our eyes, and He will wake us up. Hallelujah. That's a prayer I have for my own soul. That's a prayer I have for my family, for you, and for our world. May it be so. TODAY'S PRAYERS: Lord God Almighty and everlasting father you have brought us in safety to this new day preserve us with your Mighty power that we might not fall into sin or be overcome by adversity. And in all we do, direct us to the fulfilling of your purpose  through Jesus Christ Our Lord amen.   Oh God you have made of one blood all the peoples of the earth and sent your blessed son to preach peace to those who are far and those who are near. Grant that people everywhere may seek after you, and find you. Bring the nations into your fold, pour out your Spirit on all flesh, and hasten the coming of your kingdom through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.   And now Lord,  make me an instrument of your peace.  Where there is hatred let me sow love. Where there is injury, pardon.  Where there is doubt, faith. Where there is despair, hope.  Where there is darkness, light.  And where there is sadness,  Joy.  Oh Lord grant that I might not seek to be consoled as to console. To be understood as to understand, to be loved as to love.  For it is in the giving that we receive, in the pardoning that we are pardoned, it is in the dying that we are born unto eternal life.  Amen And now as our Lord has taught us we are bold to pray... Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven, give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our tresspasses as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not unto temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is the Kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. Loving God, we give you thanks for restoring us in your image. And nourishing us with spiritual food, now send us forth as forgiven people, healed and renewed, that we may proclaim your love to the world, and continue in the risen life of Christ.  Amen.  OUR WEBSITE: www.dailyradiobible.com We are reading through the New Living Translation.   Leave us a voicemail HERE: https://www.speakpipe.com/dailyradiobible Subscribe to us at YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Dailyradiobible/featured OTHER PODCASTS: Listen with Apple Podcast DAILY BIBLE FOR KIDS DAILY PSALMS DAILY PROVERBS DAILY LECTIONARY DAILY CHRONOLOGICAL  

The Early Church Headquarters on Mount Zion: Colleague James Tabor discusses archaeology on Mount Zion revealing a first-century foundation beneath a medieval church, likely the headquarters of the early movement, describing this as the home where James led the church and Mary hosted pilgrims, with Mary possibly living long enough to witness James's martyrdom. 1950 BEERSHEBA

Hostage Situation and Political Realities in Gaza Ceasefire. Cliff May explains how the Gaza ceasefire focuses on the return of hostages, with 19 (including two Americans) still unaccounted for. Hamas is suspected of withholding hostages to retain bargaining power and resist relinquishing political control in phase two of the peace plan. Rhetoric about regional forces disarming Hamas is dismissed. May notes that in the Middle East, there are only permanent battles, viewing the current truce as a hudna, allowing jihadists to regroup and rearm. 1950 BEERSHEBA