Podcasts about before israel

Text: Prov 22:28 ESV28 Do not move the ancient landmark that your fathers have set.-Prov 22:28 ESVREMOVE NOT THE ANCIENT LANDMARKLandmarks are stones arranged or piled to serve as boundary markers of a field. (Gen 31:51–52) The Lord warns against stealing land by moving those stones, making it appear as if the border was in a different place (Deut 19:14; Job 24:2; Hos 5:10). Equivalent deceptions in the modern era might be moving a fence, changing a map, uprooting surveyor's stakes, or altering a document.Before Israel entered the Promised Land, the Lord said, "You shall not move your neighbor's landmark, which the men of old have set, in the inheritance that you will hold in the land that the LORD your God is giving you to possess" (Deut 19:14). Later, when Moses gathered the people together, he told them to divide by tribes and stand on two mountains, Mount Gerizim to hear blessings and Mount Ebal to hear curses. Among the curses is this, "Cursed be anyone who moves his neighbor's landmark" (Deut 27:17).In a broader sense, this is a warning not to discard the boundaries set by prior generations. As a good reminder is before taking down a fence, it's important to know why it was put up in the first place, is it not? We all know that the moral climate keeps on changing. Thus, it is understandable that new generations would question the moral or social restrictions of their parents and ancestors. Pushing moral boundaries is expected in the last days. This is a sad development. Paul says;“But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. 2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, 4 treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.”[2 Tim 3:1-5]While not all such restrictions are good, it's also not good to throw away those boundaries simply because they are ancient. It is still wise to consider our parents values, is it not. As Solomon exhorts us at the beginning of this book;“Hear, my son, your father's instruction, and forsake not your mother's teaching,for they are a graceful garland for your head and pendants for your neck.”[Prov 1:8,9]-------------------------Visit and FOLLOW Gospel Light Filipino on YouTube, Facebook and Instagram

Welcome to Bible Fiber, where are we encountering the textures and shades of the biblical tapestry. I am Shelley Neese, president of The Jerusalem Connection, a Christian organization devoted to sharing the story of the people of Israel, both ancient and modern. This week we are studying Ezekiel 35 and 36. In the previous chapter, Yahweh restated his loyalty to the covenant people as a nation. In Chapters 35 and 36, he reasserts his commitment to the land of Israel. Mount Seir                  God instructs the prophet to direct his prophecy against Mount Seir (35:1-3). As the capital of Edom, Mount Seir represents the descendants of Esau, Israel's perpetual foe. This oracle seems out of place, as God has already declared punishment for Edom in the Oracles Against the Nations (25:12-14). Why is Ezekiel reiterating God's disapproval of Edom when this could have been tacked on to Chapter 25's mini-oracle? The answer lies in the literary structure of the entire book. In the judgment portion of Ezekiel's message, God instructed him to prophesy against the mountains of Israel (6:1-3). The mountains, hills, valleys, and ravines would all experience God's wrath for hosting idol-worshiping Israelites with their pagan shrines and altars. In Ezekiel's salvation portion, however, he reverses the curse on Israel's mountains by shifting the punishment to Mount Seir.Certainly, the exiled audience heard reports of the Edomites encroaching on their abandoned properties and capitalizing on Jerusalem's misfortune. They plundered the city, captured Judean refugees, and handed them over to the Babylonians. While Israel suffered in exile, Edom seemed to thrive. The Edomites aimed to annex the land of both Israel and Judah, which Ezekiel refers to as the “two nations” and “two countries” (35:10). The Abrahamic land promise had been denied to their patriarch, Esau, in favor of Jacob, fueling their resentment. Israel's exile led the Edomites to believe they could finally reclaim the birthright they felt was unjustly taken from them. God condemned their lack of compassion for Israel during its most tragic moments, declaring he would destroy Edom because they “cherished an ancient enmity and gave over the people of Israel to the power of the sword” (35:5). Their actions during the Babylonian assault displayed a sense of betrayal due to their kinship with Israel.The Edomites' actions during Jerusalem's conquest particularly incited divine disapproval as they celebrated the city's downfall and sought to exploit it for their gain (Psalm 137:7). Before Israel returned to the land, God promised judgment against Edom. The Edomites believed the land of Israel would become theirs by default (35:10-13). However, God declared that this assumption disregarded his sovereignty over Israel. In his omniscience, he heard their blasphemous claims that the land was now theirs to devour (35:12). Despite Israel's failings and the subsequent exile, God remained dedicated to protecting the land for Israel's eventual return.When the Edomites rejoiced over Israel's ruin, they directly challenged Yahweh. Consequently, he would make their land desolate. The Edomites failed to understand that God is the true owner of the covenant land; he repeatedly refers to it as “my land,” even though he entrusted Israel with its care. Seizing any part of the land equates to stealing from Yahweh.When Edom is mentioned in the Bible, it refers not only to historical Edom and a paradigm for all godless nations that oppose God's people. Edom represents those who stand against God and his chosen representatives. Each enemy nation that antagonizes the Jewish people today follows the path of Edom. Although the “Edoms” of the world may experience moments of success, they will ultimately be defeated while Israel is preserved.Support the show

As Israel prepared to enter the Promised Land, God set before them a choice: obedience leading to blessing or disobedience bringing consequences. In this message, Dr. John unpacks Moses' call to faithfulness, showing how this ancient challenge still speaks to our walk with Christ today. Living in obedience to God's commands isn't about earning His favor but responding to His grace, trusting that His ways lead to life and joy.Living the Moral Law: A Guide for Every Generation: We begin a new series on Deuteronomy 5-11 entitled, "Living the Moral Law: A Guide for Every Generation." Before Israel entered the Promised Land, Moses reminded them of God's Covenant and instructed them to adhere to God's Law, which is absolute and perfect. The blessings of the land would only be fulfilled when Israel lived according to God's Word. The law does not supress life's joy; it releases it. It's a lesson for us today. 

God's promises always exceed our expectations. Dr. John explores how Moses described the Promised Land, showing Israel that it was far better than anything they had known. More than just a place, it was a reminder of God's care and provision—one that required faith and obedience. Likewise, our future with Christ surpasses anything we can imagine.Living the Moral Law: A Guide for Every Generation: We begin a new series on Deuteronomy 5-11 entitled, "Living the Moral Law: A Guide for Every Generation." Before Israel entered the Promised Land, Moses reminded them of God's Covenant and instructed them to adhere to God's Law, which is absolute and perfect. The blessings of the land would only be fulfilled when Israel lived according to God's Word. The law does not supress life's joy; it releases it. It's a lesson for us today. 

Reflecting on God's faithfulness is key to growing our trust in Him. In this message, Dr. John explores Deuteronomy 11:1-9, where Moses reminds Israel of God's past actions and calls them to love, obey, and trust Him as they prepare to enter the Promised Land. His words carry timeless truths for us: obedience leads to blessing, and God's promises are sure.Living the Moral Law: A Guide for Every Generation: We begin a new series on Deuteronomy 5-11 entitled, "Living the Moral Law: A Guide for Every Generation." Before Israel entered the Promised Land, Moses reminded them of God's Covenant and instructed them to adhere to God's Law, which is absolute and perfect. The blessings of the land would only be fulfilled when Israel lived according to God's Word. The law does not supress life's joy; it releases it. It's a lesson for us today. 

In today's message, Dr. John unpacks God's requirements for His people in Deuteronomy 10:12-22. Rather than a list of rigid rules, these five expectations—fearing God, walking in His ways, loving Him, serving wholeheartedly, and keeping His commands—flow from a right understanding of who He is. When we see God as He truly is, His call becomes a joy, not a burden.Living the Moral Law: A Guide for Every Generation: We begin a new series on Deuteronomy 5-11 entitled, "Living the Moral Law: A Guide for Every Generation." Before Israel entered the Promised Land, Moses reminded them of God's Covenant and instructed them to adhere to God's Law, which is absolute and perfect. The blessings of the land would only be fulfilled when Israel lived according to God's Word. The law does not supress life's joy; it releases it. It's a lesson for us today. 

Sin has consequences, but does restoration follow? In Deuteronomy 10:1-11, God gives Israel a second set of commandments after their failure with the golden calf. Dr. John explores how God's mercy restores His Word, His presence, and His people's hope for renewal, showing that failure is not the end with God.Living the Moral Law: A Guide for Every Generation: We begin a new series on Deuteronomy 5-11 entitled, "Living the Moral Law: A Guide for Every Generation." Before Israel entered the Promised Land, Moses reminded them of God's Covenant and instructed them to adhere to God's Law, which is absolute and perfect. The blessings of the land would only be fulfilled when Israel lived according to God's Word. The law does not supress life's joy; it releases it. It's a lesson for us today. 

Moses' prayer life reveals a powerful model for interceding on behalf of others. In this episode, Dr. John examines Deuteronomy 9:22–29, where Moses pleads for Israel despite their persistent rebellion. Rather than giving up on them, he chooses to pray, demonstrating the heart of a true spiritual leader. Looking at Jesus' and Paul's prayers, we see that interceding for others is not just an act of obedience—it's a reflection of God's grace at work.Living the Moral Law: A Guide for Every Generation: We begin a new series on Deuteronomy 5-11 entitled, "Living the Moral Law: A Guide for Every Generation." Before Israel entered the Promised Land, Moses reminded them of God's Covenant and instructed them to adhere to God's Law, which is absolute and perfect. The blessings of the land would only be fulfilled when Israel lived according to God's Word. The law does not supress life's joy; it releases it. It's a lesson for us today. 

In today's episode, Dr. John examines Israel's persistent struggle with idolatry, focusing on their rebellion at Mount Sinai. Though God's command against idol-making seemed simple, Israel repeatedly turned to false gods. Dr. John unpacks why they did this, the consequences they faced, and what this means for us today.Living the Moral Law: A Guide for Every Generation: We begin a new series on Deuteronomy 5-11 entitled, "Living the Moral Law: A Guide for Every Generation." Before Israel entered the Promised Land, Moses reminded them of God's Covenant and instructed them to adhere to God's Law, which is absolute and perfect. The blessings of the land would only be fulfilled when Israel lived according to God's Word. The law does not supress life's joy; it releases it. It's a lesson for us today. 

We often think we must earn God's favor, but in reality, our salvation is a gift of grace. In this episode, Dr. John examines the Israelites' conquest of the promised land, showing that their success came not from their own strength, but from God's mercy. He reminds us that we contribute nothing but our sin, and it is only through God's grace that we are saved. This powerful message calls us to reflect on the gospel's central truth.Living the Moral Law: A Guide for Every Generation: We begin a new series on Deuteronomy 5-11 entitled, "Living the Moral Law: A Guide for Every Generation." Before Israel entered the Promised Land, Moses reminded them of God's Covenant and instructed them to adhere to God's Law, which is absolute and perfect. The blessings of the land would only be fulfilled when Israel lived according to God's Word. The law does not supress life's joy; it releases it. It's a lesson for us today. 

When life is good, it's easy to forget the One who provided it all. Dr. John reflects on Deuteronomy 8:11-20, warning against the dangers of pride and self-reliance. He urges us to remember God's faithfulness and provision, staying humble and focused on His commands, especially in times of abundance.Living the Moral Law: A Guide for Every Generation: We begin a new series on Deuteronomy 5-11 entitled, "Living the Moral Law: A Guide for Every Generation." Before Israel entered the Promised Land, Moses reminded them of God's Covenant and instructed them to adhere to God's Law, which is absolute and perfect. The blessings of the land would only be fulfilled when Israel lived according to God's Word. The law does not supress life's joy; it releases it. It's a lesson for us today. 

In this episode, Dr. John reflects on the danger of pride during times of prosperity, drawing from Deuteronomy 8. He highlights how Israel's abundance led to forgetfulness of God, and how true humility comes from obeying God's commands, regardless of circumstances. Dr. John encourages us to trust in God's provision and remain obedient, whether in times of plenty or need.Living the Moral Law: A Guide for Every Generation: We begin a new series on Deuteronomy 5-11 entitled, "Living the Moral Law: A Guide for Every Generation." Before Israel entered the Promised Land, Moses reminded them of God's Covenant and instructed them to adhere to God's Law, which is absolute and perfect. The blessings of the land would only be fulfilled when Israel lived according to God's Word. The law does not supress life's joy; it releases it. It's a lesson for us today. 

When challenges seem overwhelming, it's easy to lose hope. In this episode, Dr. John reflects on Deuteronomy 7:16-26, where Moses encourages Israel to trust God as they face powerful enemies. He highlights God's faithfulness in past victories and calls for devotion, warning against idolatry. Dr. John shows how this passage points to God's power and reminds us that true victory comes from relying on Him.Living the Moral Law: A Guide for Every Generation: We begin a new series on Deuteronomy 5-11 entitled, "Living the Moral Law: A Guide for Every Generation." Before Israel entered the Promised Land, Moses reminded them of God's Covenant and instructed them to adhere to God's Law, which is absolute and perfect. The blessings of the land would only be fulfilled when Israel lived according to God's Word. The law does not supress life's joy; it releases it. It's a lesson for us today. 

In this episode, Dr. John explores Deuteronomy 7:12-15, where God promises blessings to Israel. He warns against the prosperity gospel, explaining that while wealth isn't wrong, it can lead to spiritual dangers. Dr. John emphasizes that God's blessings are a result of His grace, not human effort, and obedience positions us to receive His gifts.Living the Moral Law: A Guide for Every Generation: We begin a new series on Deuteronomy 5-11 entitled, "Living the Moral Law: A Guide for Every Generation." Before Israel entered the Promised Land, Moses reminded them of God's Covenant and instructed them to adhere to God's Law, which is absolute and perfect. The blessings of the land would only be fulfilled when Israel lived according to God's Word. The law does not supress life's joy; it releases it. It's a lesson for us today. 

How do we reconcile God's love with His commands for destruction in the Old Testament? In this episode, Dr. John examines the troubling concept of herem—the command to devote entire nations to destruction in Deuteronomy 7. As he unpacks this difficult passage, he contrasts God's judgment on the Canaanite nations with His covenantal love and favor toward Israel, showing how these events reveal God's righteousness and His concern for His people.Living the Moral Law: A Guide for Every Generation: We begin a new series on Deuteronomy 5-11 entitled, "Living the Moral Law: A Guide for Every Generation." Before Israel entered the Promised Land, Moses reminded them of God's Covenant and instructed them to adhere to God's Law, which is absolute and perfect. The blessings of the land would only be fulfilled when Israel lived according to God's Word. The law does not supress life's joy; it releases it. It's a lesson for us today. 

We often find ourselves caught up in the busyness of life, forgetting the significance of God's faithfulness. In today's episode, Dr. John Neufeld reflects on Deuteronomy 6:17-25, where Moses warns the Israelites about the dangers of forgetting God's faithfulness. He emphasizes the importance of remembering God's acts of creation and redemption, encouraging us to keep His word at the forefront of our lives and pass it down to future generations.Living the Moral Law: A Guide for Every Generation: We begin a new series on Deuteronomy 5-11 entitled, "Living the Moral Law: A Guide for Every Generation." Before Israel entered the Promised Land, Moses reminded them of God's Covenant and instructed them to adhere to God's Law, which is absolute and perfect. The blessings of the land would only be fulfilled when Israel lived according to God's Word. The law does not supress life's joy; it releases it. It's a lesson for us today. 

In today's episode, Dr. John Neufeld reflects on Deuteronomy 6:10-19, warning of the dangers of prosperity. Moses reminded Israel their blessings in the promised land were a gift from God, not earned by their efforts. Dr. John challenges us to guard against pride and always remember God as the source of our blessings.Living the Moral Law: A Guide for Every Generation: We begin a new series on Deuteronomy 5-11 entitled, "Living the Moral Law: A Guide for Every Generation." Before Israel entered the Promised Land, Moses reminded them of God's Covenant and instructed them to adhere to God's Law, which is absolute and perfect. The blessings of the land would only be fulfilled when Israel lived according to God's Word. The law does not supress life's joy; it releases it. It's a lesson for us today. 

Stress comes in all different shapes and sizes, but whatever its cause, none of us was made to be under constant stress and yet, that's how many people are living. In a constant state of stress.  Well, it's time to do something about it.   A Stress Free Life? Stress. For most of us, that word sends a shiver down our spine, and why wouldn't it? Who wants to be under stress all the time? And that's what it feels like for a lot of us, so what is it? Well, it's a state of mental or emotional strain or tension, and my dictionary adds, "Resulting from adverse or demanding circumstances", although I'm not sure that's always the case. We'll explore some of the main causes of stress in this series, but first, what sort of impact is stress having on our world? Well, a recent study conducted in Australia by the Psychological Institute (and by the way, I'm sure you'd probably find the same results no matter where you live) ... Well, the study found some interesting things about the reach and impact of stress. Here are the headline findings: 12% of people reported experiencing levels of stress in the severe range, with young adults experiencing significantly higher levels of stress and significantly lower levels of wellbeing than the general population. One in three reported experiencing depressive symptoms, with ten percent of these being in the severe range. One in four reported experiencing anxiety, with nine percent of these in the severe range. Young adults, 18-25, reported significantly higher levels of anxiety and depression than the general population. Although women reported significantly higher levels of perceived stress than did men, this didn't lead to differences reported in their levels of anxiety, depression, or wellbeing. Those people experiencing family or recent relationship-breakdown and those separated reported much higher levels of stress and distress, on all measures. If the relationship-breakdown had occurred more than one year earlier, reported stress levels were about the same as the general population. In the US, things appear to be more extreme. Seventy-three percent of people regularly experience psychological symptoms caused by stress. Almost half say that stress has a negative impact on their personal or professional lives, and the cost to employers in stress-related healthcare and missed work is estimated, in the US, to be about three hundred billion dollars a year. No wonder we want a stress free life! That idyllic life by the beach is looking pretty good to a few of us at this point. Right? But that's just not realistic and in fact, the reality is that a bit of stress in our lives isn't a bad thing. We enjoy a challenge, for instance, and working under a bit of pressure sometimes produces really good results. It's like a guitar or a violin. If the strings aren't under the right amount of tension and stress, it just doesn't work the way it was meant to. I know for instance after a longish holiday, say three weeks off over Christmas, I'm really looking forward to getting back into the cut and thrust of work. If we had no pressure, no deadlines, life would be missing something; and in any case, sometimes we're hit by circumstances that put us under a lot of stress, whether we like it or not. Take Jesus. He experienced huge stress. Luke 22:39-46: He came out and went, as was His custom, to the Mount of Olives and the disciples followed Him. When He reached that place, He said to them, ‘Pray, that you may not come into a time of trial.' Then He withdrew from them, about a stone's throw away, knelt down and prayed, ‘Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me. Yet not My will, but Yours be done.' Then an angel from heaven appeared to Him and gave Him strength. In His anguish He prayed more earnestly, and His sweat became like drops of blood falling down on the ground. When He got up from prayer, He came to the disciples and found them sleeping because of grief, and He said to them, ‘Why are you sleeping? Get up and pray, that you may not come into a time of trial.' The fact that Jesus' sweat was like drops of blood tells us just how severe His suffering was. This was stress, and it only got worse from here, as He was beaten and nailed to a cross. No, that completely stress free life isn't a reality for any of us. Even the rich and famous, in fact sometimes especially those people, suffer enormous amounts of stress. How many superstars have died from drug overdoses? What were they doing there in the first place? What drove them to drugs? The pressure and the stress of fame. So, sometimes stress is desirable; sometimes it's unavoidable, and sometimes we experience it because of our reaction to a particular person or set of circumstances, and yet the Bible says don't be anxious about anything (Philippians 4:6). So what sort of stress are you under right now? Is it the normal cut and thrust of life which, at the end of the day, you kind of enjoy anyhow? Then that's probably not such a bad thing, is it? It's manageable, and you know that with a few adjustments to your life, you could easily get things right under control. Then you're probably in a good balance, but if the stresses that you're under feel like a huge burden, like a heavy load that you're carrying around twenty-four by seven ... well ... that's not such a good thing. We're not made to be under that sort of constant pressure and stress, and yet many people live their lives like that. That's why we're kicking the year off with this series called, "Stress Busters" because God has a lot of things to say about how to alleviate the stress that you're under; lots of practical, powerful things to say. Hey, why should that be a surprise to any of us? God cares so deeply about you; what you're going through; what stress you're under, and the stepping off point for that is what Jesus said. We see it in Matthew 11:28-30. Jesus said: Come to Me, all you who are weary and carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble of heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke of easy, and My burden is light. Jesus wants to lighten your load, so over these coming weeks, we're going to discover what He has to say about your stress, because Jesus didn't say this lightly. Jesus didn't say this flippantly. Jesus meant it – come to Me, all you who are weary and who are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Come on! Take My yoke upon you. Learn from Me. I'm gentle. I'm humble of heart, and with Me, you're going to find rest for your souls. Hey, that's a powerful thing, and that's why we're doing a series over these next few weeks called, "Stress Busters" because God wants to deal with the stress in your life.   Stress we Put Ourselves Under You and I have this habit of putting ourselves under pressure and stress needlessly. Don't believe me? Well, right now, we're going to chat about how we do that exactly, and what we can do about changing our habits, because there are more than enough things out there that are going to cause you and me stress, whether we like it or not. There are going to be situations and circumstances completely beyond our control that cause us stress: The loss of a loved one; a difficult boss at work; financial problems; health issues ... There are plenty of things out there that are going to come our way, whether we like it or not, that are going to cause us stress. So, why would we possibly want to needlessly cause ourselves stress? Well, right now, we're going to chat about the main three reasons that we cause ourselves stress. I'd be surprised if you don't recognise at least one of them in your life. The first one is physical. Sometimes we think of stress as an emotional thing, even a spiritual thing; and of course, it is those things, but the physical reality is that God has given you and me a body, and there are three main things that we do to abuse this amazing body that God has gifted us. We eat too much of the wrong stuff, we don't get enough sleep, and we don't get enough exercise. How many times have you heard someone (including me) banging on about our diet and exercise and sleep? And yet still the first and most obvious thing that we can get wrong when it comes to managing our stress is how we treat our body, so come on. If the hat fits, wear it. Are you sick of feeling tired? Are you sick of feeling bloated and stressed and exhausted? Then do something about it. Last year, we had a whole series on the programme called, "Healthy living to a Ripe Old Age" and all of those messages in that series are available in the Resources section of the ChristianityWorks.com website, under the heading of Health. Grab them, listen to them, read the transcripts and please, if you're struggling because you're not treating your body properly, do something about it. 1 Corinthians 6:19: For don't you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? God expects you and He expects me to look after this amazing body that He's given us, and when we do, let me tell you, our stress levels drop dramatically. The second thing that we do to put ourselves under stress needlessly is constantly second-guessing ourselves: Constantly telling ourselves, "I'm not good enough. I'm not fast enough. I'm not smart enough." You know what that's called? Low self-esteem, and it might surprise you to know that this is a trap that I too find quite easy to fall into. Shocked? Here's how it works for me. I'm something of an achiever. I drive hard at things; I work hard; I try to deliver on-time ... It's just who I am, and when you're that kind of person, you can see not only all the things that you have achieved, but all the things that you haven't yet achieved, and so you start telling yourself, "Come on! You're not working hard enough for God. You should be doing better for God. You should be getting up earlier and working longer and delivering sooner. You need to get more done. Look at all the things you haven't done yet! Oh, Berni, you're failing God." You see how easy it is to do? Or at the other end of the scale, perhaps you only ever see your inadequacies, because you're constantly comparing yourself to other people. Anyone recognise that? It's like that song by Casey Chambers. "Am I not pretty enough or smart enough or liked enough or strong enough or articulate enough or" ... so we find all these ways to put ourselves under enormous pressure, and cause ourselves huge stress by believing this nonsense that we're just not good enough. Have you been there? Then I have a word from God for you today. 1 Corinthians 12:4-7: Now there are a variety of gifts, but the same Spirit; there are a variety of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. To each one, He has given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. Did you get that? Each one of us has been given a particular set of gifts and abilities. They're all different, but they're given by the one God; and the gifts He's given you, He's given you by His sovereign will and choice. You are who you are because He made you that way. He didn't make a mistake. You're exactly who God purposed you and made you to be. Get your heart around that, and you're set free from this nonsense of, "Am I not pretty enough? Am I not good enough for God?" Hello? Is anyone listening to this? I for one need constant reminding of this stuff, because I can end up stressing out by having a wrong view of who I am. It's about trading in your self-image for a faith-image from God, and this God says that you're beautiful, and that you're just who you're meant to be. So you've been given gifts by God now to be that person, and to use those gifts. Hallelujah! And finally, the third thing that causes us needlessly to put ourselves under stress is not letting go of the past. So many people are still holding onto the failures and the hurts and the regrets of the past. How many people are living under the reproach of the past? Come on, the past is the past. You and I can't change it, and God is in the business of setting us free from it. Mark this. Before Israel was able to cross over the Jordan River and enter into the promised land, God dealt with their past. Joshua 5:9: The LORD said to Joshua, ‘Today I have rolled away from you the reproach of the past, the disgrace of Egypt.' And so that place is called Gilgal to this day. You've heard that saying, "Don't cry over spilt milk." Right? Yes, wipe it up. Yes, clean up the mess. Yes, learn from your mistakes so that you won't spill the milk again, but don't just stand there and wish you hadn't spilt the milk, and spend the rest of your life living in that one moment of failure, because you can't un-spill the milk. That just doesn't make sense. This Jesus came to set you free from the past, to bind up your broken heart, to give you a vision for the future, a new set of eyes to see, a new set of ears to hear, and a new life to live. Jesus came to lift the reproach of the past off your shoulders, so that it won't cause you any more stress. Come on. There are enough things out there for you to stress out over without your health, without these false feelings of inadequacy, and without your hurts from the past doing it all for you. Do you think?   The Stress of not Enough It seems to me that there are three basic resources that you and I need to get by each day: Time, money, and expertise; and when we're short of any of those three basic resources – time, money, or expertise, that can cause us enormous amounts of stress. Let's start by looking at time. I don't know when the term time-poor started to fall into common usage, but these days, you hear it a lot. People are time-poor. In fact, once you have enough money to cover the basics in your life, time becomes an even more valuable commodity than money, and for many people, time is way too short. ‘If only I had a few extra hours in every day!' I've heard people say. Really? The more affluent we become, the more options we have for spending our time. Take social media. Right at the moment, eleven percent of the world's population are active Facebook-users. Just think about that for a minute, and they are collectively spending seven hundred billion minutes on Facebook each month. That's 1.33 million person-years every month on Facebook, and that doesn't count watching TV and all the other entertainment options available to us. No wonder we're time-poor! So what's changed? Why have we, all of a sudden, become time-poor? ‘Cos we're trying to cram too much into our day. We're always connected. We're always working and chatting, and we've forgotten how to have disconnected, quiet down-time. If that's you, if you're burning the candle at both ends, something has to give, otherwise the stress is going to kill you. Really, and in case you're one of these workaholics, who just has to work eighteen hours a day otherwise civilisation as we know it is going to come to an end, here's a different perspective – God's perspective. Psalm 127:1-2: Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labour in vain. Unless the LORD guards the city, the guards keep watch in vain. It's in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil, for God gives sleep to His beloved. It's simply not God's plan for you to live like that, and I've recorded a whole series of messages on that called "It's Time to Stop Labouring in Vain". You'll find it in the Resources section of our website, ChristianityWorks.com. Now the second thing that causes us stress is a lack of money. Sometimes that's because people simply don't have enough money to get by, but sometimes, it's because we squander the money that we do have on impulse buys or on things we don't need; on food that we bought, and then because of our bad management, it goes off in the fridge, so we throw it out. I want to deal with wastage first because that's criminal. With people starving in the world, wasting money on stuff that we just don't need is criminal, but the problem is that advertisers have it down to a fine art. They seem to be able to get us to part with our money like nothing else, so the question you have to ask yourself, the thing that's going to get you to change your mind, is whether the stress of this is worth it; whether having all those things makes you happy or, at the end of the day, makes you stressed. 1 Timothy 6:9-10: Those who want to be rich end up falling into temptation, and they're trapped by many senseless and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich, some have wandered away from their faith and pierced themselves with many pains. So ask yourself, "Is it really worth it for me? Really?" Or is it time to get your house in order? Is it time to get money-wise? And again, I've recorded a whole series called, "How to be Money-Wise" that you'll find in the Living in Victory section of the Resources library at ChristianityWorks.com. Sort that out, and the stress goes away. Believe you me, it's worth it. And for those who are poor, desperately poor, let me say this to you: In fact not me, but Jesus. Matthew 6:31-33: Don't worry, saying, ‘What am I going to eat?' or, ‘What am I going to drink?' or, ‘What am I going to wear?' For it's the Gentiles who strive after all these things, and indeed your heavenly Father already knows that you need them all. But strive first for the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. God knows what you need, and He will provide it for you. So, Proverbs 3:5-6: Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. But in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make straight your paths. Your God will surely provide for you, and once you learn to trust Him to do the things you can't do and provide the things that you need that you can't acquire for yourself, the stress will be replaced by the most amazing peace and assurance. Finally, the other thing that causes us stress when we're without it is expertise. When I look at the ministry of ChristianityWorks that produces these radio-programmes, ok, I'm the front guy; you hear my voice, but without Max on the opposite side of the glass here in the studio and our dedicated team around the world, there simply wouldn't be any radio-programmes. One of the biggest things that you and I can do to cause ourselves stress is not to value and recognise the different abilities and capabilities of the people around us because when we don't cherish them, they desert us. I see this all the time: Leaders who think everybody should be exactly like them, so they drive their people hard and all of a sudden, there's no one left to lead. A true leader recognises other people's gifts and abilities. A true leader encourages and empowers people to be all that they can be, and whether we're leaders or not, we need other people around us who will co-operate in getting things done; because without them, we are going to be under stress with a capital S; because without them, we have to do the things that they're good at, and those things are invariably stuff that we're not good at. There's something incredibly stressful about being a square peg in a round hole. If I had to do Max's job here in the studio, I couldn't do it, and I've tried to get Max on the other side of the glass in front of the microphone, and he's not real keen on that either; because that's not his gig, just as much as what he does is not my gig. It's easy to be stressed by not having enough: Enough time, enough money, or enough expertise. But when we lean on God – hey; when we really trust in Him (come on, really), the stress starts to go away because what we discover is that God provides richly for those whom He loves. He just does. So if you're struggling under the stress of not enough, listen again, please, to this passage from Proverbs 3:5-6: Trust in the LORD with all your heart. Do not lean on your own understanding. In other words, don't look at the problem and keep turning the problem over in your mind, and just seeing the problem which then appears to be bigger than God. Instead, trust in the LORD with all your heart! Don't lean on your own understanding. And in all your ways acknowledge Him, and God will straighten out your paths. God will make it happen. God loves you. Do you get that? God absolutely loves you, and often we are going to be confronted with things that are much bigger than us. Pressure is different from stress. Pressure is out there; stress is our reaction to it, and God doesn't want you stressing out.

In this episode, Dr. John unpacks Deuteronomy 6:1-9, exploring the profound connection between fearing God, loving Him with all our hearts, and living faithfully in obedience to His commands. Through Moses' call to a new generation of Israel, we see how reverence for God shapes our actions, how love drives our devotion, and how faithfulness secures God's blessings. Discover what it means to live a life fully submitted to God, trusting Him for the future.Living the Moral Law: A Guide for Every Generation: We begin a new series on Deuteronomy 5-11 entitled, "Living the Moral Law: A Guide for Every Generation." Before Israel entered the Promised Land, Moses reminded them of God's Covenant and instructed them to adhere to God's Law, which is absolute and perfect. The blessings of the land would only be fulfilled when Israel lived according to God's Word. The law does not supress life's joy; it releases it. It's a lesson for us today. 

The people of Israel heard God's voice as He gave the Ten Commandments—a moment filled with awe and fear. Moses recounts their response, highlighting their recognition of God's glory and their need for a mediator. Dr. John explores how this moment teaches us about God's holiness, the purpose of His law, and the ultimate mediator, Jesus Christ.Living the Moral Law: A Guide for Every Generation: We begin a new series on Deuteronomy 5-11 entitled, "Living the Moral Law: A Guide for Every Generation." Before Israel entered the Promised Land, Moses reminded them of God's Covenant and instructed them to adhere to God's Law, which is absolute and perfect. The blessings of the land would only be fulfilled when Israel lived according to God's Word. The law does not supress life's joy; it releases it. It's a lesson for us today. 

Jesus summed up the law in two commands: love God and love your neighbour. But what does it truly mean to love others? Dr. John Neufeld explores this question through the lens of Deuteronomy 5:16-21, unpacking how the commandments guide us to honour our parents, respect life, and uphold the sanctity of marriage. Discover how these timeless principles shape a culture of love and respect.Living the Moral Law: A Guide for Every Generation: We begin a new series on Deuteronomy 5-11 entitled, "Living the Moral Law: A Guide for Every Generation." Before Israel entered the Promised Land, Moses reminded them of God's Covenant and instructed them to adhere to God's Law, which is absolute and perfect. The blessings of the land would only be fulfilled when Israel lived according to God's Word. The law does not supress life's joy; it releases it. It's a lesson for us today. 

Moses stood before a new generation of Israelites, ready to lead them into the Promised Land, and reminded them of a defining moment in their history—God's covenant at Mount Horeb. As he recounted the Ten Commandments, Moses emphasized their enduring significance. In today's message, Dr. John explores the first four commandments, which focus on loving God. These timeless truths challenge us to honor God exclusively and avoid any distortion of His nature. Discover how these commands deepen our understanding of faith, obedience, and worship.Living the Moral Law: A Guide for Every Generation: We begin a new series on Deuteronomy 5-11 entitled, "Living the Moral Law: A Guide for Every Generation." Before Israel entered the Promised Land, Moses reminded them of God's Covenant and instructed them to adhere to God's Law, which is absolute and perfect. The blessings of the land would only be fulfilled when Israel lived according to God's Word. The law does not supress life's joy; it releases it. It's a lesson for us today. 

In today's episode, Dr. John Neufeld begins exploring Moses' second sermon in Deuteronomy, focusing on the moral law and its relevance for Christians. Drawing from Deuteronomy 4:44–5:6, Dr. John explains how the law reveals God's holiness, exposes human sin, and points us to the grace found in Christ. This study invites us to reflect on the Ten Commandments and their significance in living a life that honors God.Living the Moral Law: A Guide for Every Generation: We begin a new series on Deuteronomy 5-11 entitled, "Living the Moral Law: A Guide for Every Generation." Before Israel entered the Promised Land, Moses reminded them of God's Covenant and instructed them to adhere to God's Law, which is absolute and perfect. The blessings of the land would only be fulfilled when Israel lived according to God's Word. The law does not supress life's joy; it releases it. It's a lesson for us today. 

Before Israel enters the Promised Land, Moses is told to go view the land from a mountain before he passes away.

David's Final Prayer 1 Chronicles 29:10-20 Introduction Tonight, we delve into the book of 1 Chronicles and this great and perhaps last public prayer of the great King David! It is a fabulous piece of Scripture, I am sure you agree, that tells us a lot about God we as Christians claim to know and love, as well as how we are to respond to Him. Originally 1 & 2 Chronicles were one book. It was the final book of the Jewish Canon, probably written by Ezra and was also known as the "the events of the days", "the things omitted" which would suggest that Chronicles were to be regarded as additional to the books of Kings and Samuel. It's a book which was written for those from the nation of Israel who are now in exile, to remind them of their spiritual heritage - the journey & history of Israel as a nation. For us though, not least I, it issues certain challenges to us all. Here is the great king David! Now here to Chapter 29, we have King David in his final days before handing over the crown to his son, Solomon. David is no longer the shepherd-boy who slew Goliath. He is at the end of his life. He wanted to build the temple himself, but God told him in 1 Chronicles 28v3 "You are not to build a house for my Name, because you are a warrior and have shed blood." The building of the Temple was to be ultimately achieved by his great son Solomon to do! What has happened so far? So what has happened so far, according to the Chronicler? In the previous verses before our reading, we see how David has given publicly a great deal of wealth including gold, silver and other personal possessions for this building - the great Temple. This was to serve as an active encouragement for others to also give generously! Not only of their material possessions, but also as we read from 1 Chronicles 28v21, their talents and craftsmanship as well! This house of God would be a community effort - King & pauper alike, giving generously and honestly! So here is David, a man, who despite his many faults, is described as a man after God's own heart. Israel's greatest king, saying this prayer of intimate praise & adoration to his God in front of the assembled throngs. This prayer, like his gifts of gold etc., could be said, to be David's legacy to the nation of Israel, to Solomon and by extension also to us. 1. WOW factor of God! (v10-13) I get a wow factor of God reading this! Look how David talks of God! You can tell that David has had a vibrant and intimate relationship with this God - the God of his youth and his old age. He piles up the metaphors! He speaks of God personally: thou, thee, you, yours, our, I, my. David praises God for who God is! Verse 10 sets the scene "Blessed be thou, LORD God of Israel our father, for ever and ever." God is their father! He is everlasting! Before Israel was, He is and always will be! He was to be their God and they were to be His people. God takes care of them as a father does His children - giving generously, protecting them and always being available for guidance & wisdom. Verse 11 is perhaps the central verse of this prayer: "Thine, O LORD is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, O LORD, and thou art exalted as head above all." The whole emphasis is on the LORD God! Greatness, power, glory, victory and majesty - all are yours O God - throughout the earth and the heavens! Yours is the kingdom! Not ours, but yours, O King! For they are attributes of a king! God's greatness is vast, incomparable and unfathomable. God's power is that of a warrior: almighty, overwhelming yet alluring; and all power comes from Him to every dependent creature. God's glory is the exuberant and ecstatic magnificence of His very being! Victory shows God as an all-conquering hero: transcendent and supreme, to whom all creatures and creation are subject. His victories are irrefutable and undeniable. His uncompromising majesty symbolises a dignity, regency, splendour and awesome magnificence! These things: greatness, power, glory, victory and majesty are essential attributes of who God is: indelible, immutable, unchangeable and permanent. God is a King in greater splendour than any of the excesses of King Louis XVI. If you don't know about Louis, go look him up and the scale of extravagance! This God is a mighty King to be exalted above all things and He is to be held in His rightful place: high and lifted up! As for the kingdom, whose is it? Is it Israel's? No! Is it David's? No! It is God's and His alone! His Kingdom is of total magnificence and greater than the Roman Empire to come! Even greater than the British Empire, which was never to see the sun set on it. Jesus is probably quoting here, in what we call the Lord's Prayer. So David's words resonate down through history. In this context however, David uses kingdom to symbolise the fact that the building materials, the amassed wealth, did not belong to Israel, but rather they were God's alone! God's kingdom shows His universal influence, authority and universality. Everything is God's! Its all His! Nobody can say they own ultimate possession of anything! The only reason, to paraphrase David, "we have this amassed wealth to build the Temple is because we have the leasehold to it! God owns the freehold, its all His and because of His generosity we can build Him this house! And not only these material possessions, but also the imagination, ingenuity, craftsmanship, skills and talents - well they all came from God as well, so you craftsmen, bless God because God has blessed you with skilled hands to work on His house! Your strength is ultimately from His unlimited resources of strength!" This is no impersonal statue or idol like the surrounding nations. This is the living God, awesome in all things yet willing to be involved in a personal relationship. This is the God, who through the Levitical Law, wants to live with His people of joy, to be their Living God! This God is the light of all things good, bright and blessed. He is the greatest of the greatest, truly incomprehensible yet also knowable. David is in utter adoration of this great God! I wonder if David knew that this physical Temple itself was only ever going to be a temporary building until the coming of the Messiah - when God would no longer dwell in a house made of gold and stone but rather live in human hearts. It is out of His wonderfully glorious grace that the Lord God Almighty gave the gifts in the first place and the cheerful sacrificial response from His people in gratitude to Him was remarkable! All these things were given willingly - the possessions, the gold, the silver, the skills, the power and strength - all in service of the great God of Israel, the great Father of Abraham, Isaac, Moses and the other patriarchs. Surely, this is a God worthy of all praise, worship and life commitment! Each person praises differently and in different ways, so let's rejoice when we see other people praising God differently to our own style. 2. David - its all Him (v14-20) That's the wow factor of God: a God who is abundant in greatness, power, glory, victory and majesty. Now let's look together at David himself! All the attributes of praise, given here by David to God, could with a great deal of justification, be said about Israel, or even David himself. They were at the time a strong nation and David quite rightly still on the throne. Israel's greatest King - full of power, might and majesty. But no! What does David say in v14? "But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort? For all things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee." Its all about God for David! He would say that I am only here because of Him! David has been reflecting on his whole life - from the time he defeated the Philistine armed only with a sling and stone. He sees his past failures, the utter depravity of those but also his repentant heart before a holy God. The end of verse 14 again, "All things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee", and this resonates down through history, in churches worldwide as the offering prayer. David exhibits great humility before God, and sets an example for his son, Solomon and the other people of Israel, to follow. And then in v15 "For we are strangers before thee, and sojourners, as were all our fathers: our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is none abiding" David acknowledges that Israel were only tenants in the Promised Land - on a leasehold agreement. They were a nation of sojourners travelling a journey, from their foundation as a nation onwards. It is like David was saying to the Lord: "We are here temporarily but You, O God, are here permanently. What an amazingly generous God you are, giving with such exceeding grace to us." David confesses they are but transient and aliens in the land God had given them. It is an image tying them to their patriarchs as they wandered in the wilderness, living only on what their God provided them with, as they looked for the Promised Land. It is also an image of an acknowledgement that all life is supremely dependent upon God and God alone. God was to be their God and they were to be His people - to be shining as a light to all nations as God's representatives. Here is the mighty King David, bowing in humility before a great God whom he adores, serves and worships. He knew that his whole life had been one of dependence upon God for all things, and David was exhibiting this before his people. David's prayer was that the people of Israel would continue to depend on God but also exhibit that dependence and show how God supplied them graciously. Not only for David but also for the Chronicler too! He was recording this for the people of Israel when they were in exile. The Chronicler reminds the people in exile to be utterly dependent upon God for all and everything. For the Chronicler, the building of the Temple was more a matter of the heart, and built upon the faith of God to supply. This faith was expressed in the building made of gold, silver, wood and other metals. It was due to God's generosity alone the Temple would be built and nothing to do with David and his people. It would have been a tremendous temptation to be filled with boastful pride about it. It was a test of people's hearts to see if they really did love their God. Then in the final words of this prayer, we see David praying for unreserved and enthusiastic giving from the people. He changes from acknowledgment to petition. In verses 18-20, David exhorts an outpouring of generosity from his people, from a heart filled with thanks - a heart acknowledging total dependence on God for all things - a heart & life of loyal obedience to Almighty God. Solomon also was to be wholeheartedly obedient and devoted fully to God. A heart filled with peace with God, a life totally devoted to Him, exhibited with joyful giving. That's what David was praying for his people and for his son Solomon. Its also what the Chronicler was expecting from the people in exile as he recounts this to them. It was to be a community effort of devotion and obedience to an almighty God, on whom they were dependent for all facets of human life. Everybody giving what they could - out of riches or poverty. 3. So what? Firstly, we saw the wow factor of God: a God who exudes greatness, power, glory, victory and majesty. Then we saw David's utter adoration and dependence upon the God that he knows intimately. So, finally, what does all this have to do with us? How often do we receive from our God, but not thank Him for it? We are to be thankful for every good gift that is given to us. We offer praises and thanks to Him, for who He is and for His generosity and grace towards us. Tonight's bible passage was a superb piece of thanksgiving. When was the last time you thanked God for all the things He has given you? How can we put this thanks and praise into action? Lets see quickly! Firstly, I am convinced there are enough wealthy Christians sitting in churches in the West, who could make significant donations and virtually eradicate a lot of the poverty in the developing world and indeed their own countries. This would be active Christian giving on a radical scale. In biblical stories, such as this from 1 Chronicles 29, its always those who had the most, gave the most as an example to others of God's generosity. After all, God owns it all anyway and it's only given as a loan from God and not a transference of ownership. As Christians, we are to desire to mature spiritually - growing in adoration, obedience and commitment to God. Perhaps the greatest indicator of today, concerns our giving. Giving is to be done whole-heartedly and cheerfully. It is also not so much about how much is given, but how much is left after giving and the attitude behind it. God looks beyond that which is given to the motive and attitude behind it. All our money and possessions belong to Him anyway, as we have seen, so giving is to be in response to this. Our money and possessions are a leasehold agreement not a freehold one. Giving done willingly is also not done to boost our own egos or for the feel-good factor, but rather to bring glory and honour to God as a thankful response to His giving all things to us. Many prayers seemingly go unanswered because God is waiting on people to be obedient to Him, in order to answer the unanswered prayers of others. . We are to be generous with everything we have, not just in the area of money but with our very lives. We all have time, information, knowledge imagination, gifts and talents. All these too are to be given back to God . That may well take radical action to do, but radical giving is what we are called to do. God has given everything so that you and I may live and have life, so by caring and giving, we will reflect that. Let's be radical church together and encourage others to be likewise. But, as we have seen, it's not only about giving money and resources. Giving is also to include skills, information, imagination and knowledge. Remember, the priests and craftsmen were waiting to give in the building of and service within the Temple. Churches, particularly these days, need to capture the imagination of those looking for a church home, and get them involved. Involvement in such a way that it builds up commitment to God and a growing adoration of Him. If people are involved, they will stay. It means training them up, to be fit for service within the church. If training for service doesn't occur, then commitment and dedication to God is likely to be diminished. If the same people do the same thing year after year, that local church will eventually die out. Each local church is only one generation away from closing its doors permanently. Giving, as we saw in tonight's passage, is also a community affair. This Church is to be a community, both within the church and outside of it, where the strongest members support the weakest members. Our leaders here at PBC give demonstrably I think- including their time, possessions, money, knowledge and wisdom. But, as we also saw tonight, it is not just for leaders to give! Giving is to be for everyone! Every church has a fantastic array of knowledge, wisdom, possessions and imagination. Let us share that with people outside the church. Who knows what our caring and giving will do for them as it reflects the glory of God! Too often, we are found turning a blind eye to the suffering of others where the necessities of life are in sparse existence. Too often we neglect to give up our personal space, time, imagination, information and money generously to help the poor and needy in our local, national and global communities. By doing this giving collectively, we will show our faith to be real and practical. There are people out there in our local community just waiting for somebody to give generously to them. We need to be seen to be radically giving to all - of our money, our possessions, and also our time, imagination, knowledge, practical help, care and love. Let us show our relevance to our local community and not be seen as just a curious gathering of people meeting on a Sunday. If I could summarise all this up in one sentence, it would be something like this: "Ask not only what your God can give to you, but what great things you can do and give to your God." Right mouse click or tap here to download this sermon

In the Book of Psalms, Psalm 119 is the longest. It's an acrostic psalm that walks through the entire Hebrew alphabet, with eight verses for each letter, which ends up being 176 total verses. God willing, we'll get there in a couple of years!But today, in Psalm 78, we're looking at the second longest psalm. Psalm 78 is 72 total verses, but the plan this morning is just to show you three lessons that we find here, and these are lessons especially relevant for when God is leading you through something. One of my big takeaways from last week's sermon, in Psalm 77, came in verse 19, that in God's leading of Israel, his way was “through the sea;” his path was “through the great waters.” And Pastor Mike Polley pointed out that this is not what we would think or want. We'd want to go around the sea. Avoid the hard thing. But God chooses to lead us through it. I know that for many of us he's leading us through some stuff right now, and if that resonates with you, Psalm 78 has three lessons for you … if that doesn't resonate with you, I hope you'll still listen to the sermon. My dad used to say that we're all in one of three places: We either just came out of something; we're going through something; or we're about to go through something.That's all of us, so whichever place you might be, let's take a minute here and ask God to speak to us through his word:Father, by your grace, we believe that every word of yours proves true, and that you are a shield to those who take refuge in you. We ask this morning, through your word, that you would comfort us about where we've been, provide for us where we are, and prepare us for where we're going — for your glory, in Jesus's name, amen. When you're going through something, lesson #1 —1) Remember God's grace by recounting your story.We see this in verses 1–4, but really, this is what the psalm is doing at a macro level. Let's remember what the Book of Psalms are doing overall. The Book of Psalms was compiled later in Israel's history to be a reflection on God's promise to King David to send the Messiah (see 2 Samuel 7). The first readers would have been reading the Psalms in the middle of a mess. They were in exile, a long ways removed from the glory days of Israel as a nation, and the question in their minds was if God had forgotten his promise. Is there still hope for the house of David? That's what they were desperate to know. And the answer is absolutely yes! There is still hope for the house of David because the house of David is still the hope, not just for the salvation of Israel but for the salvation of all the nations. That's the hope of the Messiah, and it's the consistent hum that runs through all of the psalms. The 77 and 78 ConnectionNow if we zoom back on Psalm 78, we obviously get here after Psalm 77, and in Psalm 77 is where the psalmist tells us he is in the day of trouble. He's crying out to God. He's fighting for faith. Look back at Psalm 77, verse 11. I want you to see this. Psalm 77, verse 11.In verse 11, the psalmist resolves: “I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will remember your wonders of old.”Y'all see what he's doing? In his fight for faith, he is choosing to remember — there are two keywords here — God's wonders of old. That's Psalm 77:11.Now watch how Psalm 78 starts. Psalm 78, verse 1: 1 Give ear, O my people, to my teaching; incline your ears to the words of my mouth! 2 I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings from of old, 3 things that we have heard and known, that our fathers have told us. 4 We will not hide them from their children, but tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might, and the wonders that he has done.So see, in Psalm 78 the psalmist is doing what he said he'd do in Psalm 77. He is remembering God's wonders of old, and he tells us more about how the remembering actually works.The Work of RememberingThe psalmist remembers God's wonders of old by recounting them. He expresses them — he opens his mouth; he utters them; he tells them. So notice the activity in this. The work of remembering is work. “Remember” is a verb of action. Sometimes I think we can misunderstand “remembering” to be a kind of vague, low-level thing — just something we casually do with our heads. But that's not what remembering means in the Bible. In the Bible, remembering is a repeated admonition with real consequences. In the Old Testament, God's people are commanded to remember what he has done (see Exodus 13:3); and in the New Testament the word is used about 50 times, at some really key places.And so at the very least, when it comes to the Christian life, when we hear the word “remember” we should not think it means to kick up our feet, but it means to roll up our sleeves. To remember means that we sober up with what is most real, and with our hearts we apply our minds to articulate what God has done in our lives. Maybe we literally say it, to ourselves or somebody else. Maybe we journal it. Maybe we rehearse it quietly in prayer. Either way, remembering means that we are recounting specific truths about God or things he has done.The Main Theme of GraceThat's what is going on in Psalm 78 (and it's one of the reasons the psalm is so long). The psalmist recounts the wonders of God in Israel's history. He doesn't recount everything, and he doesn't even recount them in chronological order — this is a selective recounting. He starts with Mount Sinai and the giving of the law, and then ends with God choosing David — and do you know what the theme is overall? What is the main theme of this little survey of Israel's history?My guess is that if we were to read all 72 verses together right now, what stands out the most is the shame of Israel. Over and over again, Israel proved themselves to be a wreck. Verse 40 sums it up — 78, verse 40: 40 How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness and grieved him in the desert! 41 They tested God again and again and provoked the Holy One of Israel.Israel's sin and shame is clear in this psalm. But see, if we look closer, we can see that Israel's failures is just the black cloth on which sits the diamond of God's grace. God's grace is what shines in Psalm 78. It's that however terrible Israel was — and it was bad — verse 38 tells us: 38 Yet he, being compassionate, atoned for their iniquity and did not destroy them; he restrained his anger often and did not stir up all his wrath.Verse 38 is to Psalm 78 what verse 4 is to Ephesians 2: It's all a mess. It's all sin and failure and doom, we're destined for wrath, “But God … being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us …”“YET HE … being compassionate, atoned for their iniquity.”God's grace is the real theme of this psalm. That is what the psalmist is remembering as he recounts these actual events in the story of Israel. And that's what we remember as we recount the actual events in our own stories.Your Dash Between the DatesNow when I say our own stories, I hope you understand that our own stories are each part of the bigger story of God's redemption we read about in the Bible. If we think about our stories rightly, we can't think about them apart from Abraham and David, and Peter and Paul — we have a big spiritual family tree centered on Jesus. And so within that greater context, it's good for us to focus in and think about our own lives. It's good for you to think about your dash between two dates.Yesterday, my boys and I were riding by a cemetery. It's just rows of hundreds of stones, and I told them: One day that's all that's going to be left here of us: a stone with two dates … the date you were born and the date you died, and a dash in the middle. And that dash is your life. So what's the theme of your dash? … You can think about that now. We should be thinking about that now, while we're alive, and brothers and sisters, I can tell you: if you've trusted in Jesus Christ, the main theme of your story is God's grace. Every story is different, but for Christians the main theme is the same … 'Twas grace that brought us safe thus farAnd grace will lead us home …If you want to know what will help you get through what you're going through right now … remember God's grace by recounting your story. Think about the actual events in your life when God intervened and gifted you with what you did not deserve. Anybody got any of those moments in your life? I can't believe that he saved me. God has been so good to me. God has been so good to you, more times than you can count, but you can still try! Remember God's grace by recounting your story.Here's the second lesson when you're going through something …2) See the sad predictability of unbelief.Israel's sin is obvious in Psalm 78. You can't miss it. And although it doesn't have the last say, there are some things we can learn about sin in general. Let me just read to you the way it's described …v. 8: Israel was stubborn and rebellious; their heart was not steadfast.v. 10: they did not keep God's covenant, but refused to walk according to his law. v. 11: They forgot his works.v. 17: They sinned all the more against him, rebelling against him. v. 22: They did not believe in God and did not trust in his saving power.v. 32: They still sinned; despite his wonders, they did not believe;v. 36: They lied to him with their tonguesv. 37: Their heart was not steadfast toward him; they were not faithful to his covenant.v. 42: They did not remember his power or the day when he redeemed them from the foe.v. 56: They tested and rebelled against the Most High God and did not keep his testimonies, but turned away and acted treacherously.Tracing the PathologyAgain, it's bad. This whole thing is a mess and it's hard to make sense of a mess, but there is a kind of pathology here that we can trace. The fundamental problem is unbelief. Despite all that God had done, Israel did not believe in him. They did not trust him. That's repeated in this psalm and in the whole Old Testament. Unbelief is the disease, and then a symptom of the unbelief is idolatry. That's mentioned in verse 58: “They provoked [God] to anger with their high places; they moved him to jealously with their idols.”And we can see how this works: Unbelief seeks to scrub the knowledge of God's reality out of our hearts, and when the scrubbing is done, there's nothing there, but something's gotta be there! Because everybody worships something — and if it's not the true God, then it will be some god, some thing that you make a god. And we know this. The late pastor Tim Keller put it like this:“Everyone has to live for something, and if that something is not God, then we are driven by that thing we live for — by overwork to achieve it, by inordinate fear if it is threatened, deep anger if it is being blocked, and inconsolable despair if it is lost.” (Center Church, 34)That's the effect of idolatry. Idolatry makes us incredibly insecure people. And idolatry is the symptom of unbelief — but where does the unbelief come from? Does Psalm 78 speak to that?I think it does.Forgetting GodVerse 11 says that Israel “forgot [God's] works.” Verse 42 says: “They did not remember [God's] power or the day when he redeemed them from the foe.”Before Israel stopped believing God, they stopped thinking about him. Before they forsook God, they forgot God. And how? How does a people who experienced firsthand God's miraculous salvation end up forgetting him? They saw the plagues in Egypt. They saw the Red Sea split in two. They saw bread rain down from heaven. They saw water come from a rock. And they forgot all of it — and they kept forgetting. A little later in Israel's history, in the time of the judges, when God would rescue Israel over and over again, Judges 8:34 says: “And the people of Israel did not remember the Lord their God, who had delivered them from the hand of all their enemies on every side.” How could they do that? How can anyone forget what God has done?Beware Feast and FamineWell, the text of Psalm 78 doesn't tell us exactly. The ultimate theological answer comes down to original sin. We are totally depraved and apart from the Holy Spirit's awakening work, our hearts are darkened and without hope. That's the theological answer, but to get more practical, wisdom would tell us that there are two conditions in our lives that make us especially vulnerable to forgetting. We could call these two conditions feast conditions or famine conditions — when things are either really good or really bad. I'm getting this from Proverbs 30, verses 8–9. This is the prayer of a man named Agur. He prays: 8 … give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is needful for me, 9 lest I be full and deny you and say, “Who is the Lord?” or lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of my God.Wow — do you hear what he's saying? When there are riches, feasting, he's full, and that's when he's prone to say “Who is the Lord?” And if he's asking that, it means he's done what? … He's forgotten God. He's vulnerable to forget God when he's high on the hog.But also if he's in famine conditions, if he's poor and things are really bad and he doesn't have any food to eat, he might steal food — that's when he's more prone to break God's commandments and dishonor him. So in wisdom, we learn to be cautious of both feasting and famine — and we all have these seasons in our lives, in different degrees. There are times when things are really good and there are times when things are really bad — and whatever you do, wherever you are, don't forget God. Don't get out of the vital rhythms of the Christian life — worship with your church, be honest with your community, read your Bible and pray everyday. Remember God. There is a sad predictability to unbelief. It leads to idolatry but starts with forgetting. That's a lesson we learn here in Psalm 78.Here's the third lesson, when you're going through something …3) Jesus is our hope.Look at how Psalm 78 ends. Verse 67: 67 He[God] rejected the tent of Joseph; he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim, 68 but he chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion, which he loves. 69 He built his sanctuary like the high heavens, like the earth, which he has founded forever. 70 He chose David his servant and took him from the sheepfolds; 71 from following the nursing ewes he brought him to shepherd Jacob his people, Israel his inheritance. 72 With upright heart he shepherded them and guided them with his skillful hand.Now the end of this psalm is not the end of the story. There are, of course, a lot more psalms left to go, and there's a lot of history yet to unfold for Israel, but the point here is that we focus on David, and in particular we focus on the promise that God made to David in 2 Samuel 7. God had chosen David to be king against all odds. He took him from the sheepfolds, sat him on the throne, and God promised him, “… I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 16 And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.”And in the storyline of the Bible, this promised Son of David is also the promised offspring of Abraham, who is also the promised son of a woman who will crush the head of the serpent. In the Old Testament, the promise of the Messiah narrows down to the house of David — and Psalm 78 leaves us with that promise. Psalm 78 is telling us that the Messiah is Israel's hope. And he's our hope. The Messiah Jesus is our hope. A Story UnfinishedAnd that's the most important lesson of all when you're going through something, but it's seldom the thing we think we need the most. Naturally, we want the prayers answered. We want the needs provided. We want the way made. But all of those things ultimately are a means to having more of Jesus.We know Jesus is the final answer to a story that's still unfinished. And that can be puzzling sometimes. Why doesn't everything just conclude here with Psalm 78?Okay, the house of David is where we're looking.The Messiah is our hope. So send him here and then we all live happily ever after. The story could have gone that way, right? But, it's a little more complicated than that in the Old Testament, and also today, in the New Testament era. The Promised Messiah has come, and he died in our place, and he was raised from the dead. Jesus has defeated sin and the grave, and he reigns over a kingdom that will never end — and we're part of that kingdom, we're part of his family, but here we are going through stuff! Our stories are unfinished! Why doesn't God just transport us to heaven right when we trust Jesus? Why is the Promised Land not immediate?Why are we still here going through stuff?Here's why: it's because of the glory of God. We're here, and Jesus is leading us through stuff, because he will do what best manifests his glory and maximizes our everlasting joy in him. That's why.Our Hope Right NowJesus is our hope, not just ultimately when we see him face to face in the New Jerusalem, but Jesus is our hope in the details now. In his nearness and guidance. In his power and comfort. Remember, church, that Jesus is real, and we have him now.There's a quote from Jonathan Edwards that I think captures the now-ness and then-ness of our hope in Jesus, and I read this quote everyday in prayer. I love the truth here. I've probably said it to you before. It just puts everything in perspective. Edwards says:“Every atom of the universe is managed by Christ so as to be most to the advantage of the Christian, every particle of the air and every ray of the sun, so that the Christian in the other world, when he comes to see it, shall sit and enjoy all this vast inheritance with surprising, amazing joy. “Edwards is saying that the future joy that we will have in Jesus is being crafted for us currently by the sovereignty of Jesus in what we're going through. Jesus is not just leading you through it, but he is managing every detail along the way so that it results ultimately in your deeper joy in him. Jesus is our hope forever, and Jesus is our hope right now. And so, I want to invite you: hope in him. If you're here this morning and you're not a Christian, if you have not put your faith in Jesus — right now, you can do that. Stop thinking that you can save yourself. You can't. Turn from your sin, turn from your idols, trust in Jesus the Messiah.And for those of us who have, let's trust him more. Let's hope in him more. Let's rest in God's grace to us in Jesus more!That's what we do at this Table. The TableWe come to this Table to remember. We remember that Jesus died for us, that he is our hope. If you trust in him this morning, we invite you: eat and drink with us, and let's give him thanks.

Living in the West in 1983, Bezmenov gave a lecture in which he explained “Psychological Warfare, Subversion, and the Control of Society.” It begins:Subversion refers to a process by which the values and principles of an established system are contradicted or reversed in an attempt to sabotage the existing social order and its structures of power, authority, tradition, hierarchy, and social norms. It involves a systematic attempt to overthrow or undermine a government or political system, often carried out by persons working secretly from within. Subversion is used as a tool to achieve political goals because it generally carries less risk, cost, and difficulty as opposed to open belligerency. The act of subversion can lead to the destruction or damage of an established system or government. In the context of ideological subversion, subversion aims to gradually change the perception and values of a society, ultimately leading to the undermining of its existing systems and beliefs.Ayaan Hirsi Ali: we Are Being Subverted (Article) Truth Warrior Roundtable: Israel/Palestine/Islamocommunism More links to research: Fire in the Minds of Men: Origins of the Revolutionary FaithMarching to Zion – DocumentaryThe Islamic-Vatican ConnectionThe Psychology of Socialism (Gustav LeBon book)Holy Terror: The inside story of Islamic Terrorism (Amir Taheri Book)Operation Atlas 1944Black SeptemberPan-Arabism (Note The Official Flag)Christian SocialismGenocide, Ethnic Cleansings and Apartheid‘Son of Hamas' Mosab Hassan YousefZuheir MohsenPopular Front for the Liberation of Palestine10-Point Program of the PLOThe Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine: Marxists with a history of global tiesThe Mufti and the Holocaust (Hitler and the Grand Mufti) this happened BEFORE Israel was establishedNazi Propaganda for the Arab worldHamas Covenant 1988: The Covenant of the Islamic Resistance MovementThe Islamic Iranian revolutionKuwait Expels Thousands of PalestiniansSoros/Open Society funding for pro-Palestinian marches:1. https://nypost.com/2023/10/28/news/soros-funneled-15-m-plus-to-groups-rallying-for-hamas/2. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/soros-money-funneling-into-pro-palestinian-groups/ar-AA1li97q3. The Tides Foundation and Tides Center, two affiliated deep-pocketed nonprofit organizations that have long shaped the progressive agenda with philanthropist backers such as George Soros and Bill Gates, granted at least $1 million combined in 2022 to groups behind demonstrations pushing for an Israel-Gaza conflict ceasefire and downplaying Palestinian terror in the Middle East, according to newly filed tax forms reviewed by the Washington Examiner. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/hamas-friendly-protest-groups-bankrolled-by-democratic-dark-money-juggernaut-tides/ar-AA1kQ3d7Suggested Reading (Mtsar Articles) Jews & Templars (The Untold Story)The Red Papacy (The Advent of Euro-Communism) This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit dwtruthwarrior.substack.com/subscribe

Before Russia's Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine, he met with Chinese dictator Xi Jinping in Beijing. Before Israel was invaded, Iranian and Palestinian leaders did the same.  And after Venezuela's Nicholas Maduro returned from meeting Xi in China's capital, he announced that he would invade Guyana – an as-yet unfulfilled threat or, more to the point, an unexecuted order.  Could yet another invasion loom after Secretary of State Tony Blinken's current visit with Xi in Beijing?  Actually, the Chinese Communist Party has already illegally inserted into this country multiple divisions-worth of unaccompanied, fighting-age men, apparently personnel of the People's Liberation Army. If the CCP regards Blinken and Joe Biden, who have allowed this invasion, to be – like Xi's aforementioned interlocutors – its “controlled assets,” our home front may soon be the locus of the next act of strategic arson by Xi Jinping.  God help us. This is Frank Gaffney.

Always remember, that these people marching & demonstrating for the "Palestinian cause, began marching and demonstrating the day after October 7th. Before Israel had ever responded to Hamas. Before Israel had done anything. Think about that.

David's Final Prayer 1 Chronicles 29:10-20 Introduction Tonight, we delve into the book of 1 Chronicles and this great and perhaps last public prayer of the great King David! It is a fabulous piece of Scripture, I am sure you agree, that tells us a lot about God we as Christians claim to know and love, as well as how we are to respond to Him. Originally 1 & 2 Chronicles were one book. It was the final book of the Jewish Canon, probably written by Ezra and was also known as the "the events of the days", "the things omitted" which would suggest that Chronicles were to be regarded as additional to the books of Kings and Samuel. It's a book which was written for those from the nation of Israel who are now in exile, to remind them of their spiritual heritage - the journey & history of Israel as a nation. For us though, not least I, it issues certain challenges to us all.I will be reading from the Authorised Version. It's the 400th year anniversary this year and as I read, you will see how much of its language has entered into our language today. Its influence on the development of English language is remarkable. Here is the great king David! Now here to Chapter 29, we have King David in his final days before handing over the crown to his son, Solomon. David is no longer the shepherd-boy who slew Goliath. He is at the end of his life. He wanted to build the temple himself, but God told him in 1 Chronicles 28:3 "You are not to build a house for my Name, because you are a warrior and have shed blood." The building of the Temple was to be ultimately achieved by his great son Solomon to do! What has happened so far? So what has happened so far, according to the Chronicler? In the previous verses before our reading, we see how David has given publicly a great deal of wealth including gold, silver and other personal possessions for this building - the great Temple. This was to serve as an active encouragement for others to also give generously! Not only of their material possessions, but also as we read from 1 Chronicles 28v21, their talents and craftsmanship as well! This house of God would be a community effort - King & pauper alike, giving generously and honestly!So here is David, a man, who despite his many faults, is described as a man after God's own heart. Israel's greatest king, saying this prayer of intimate praise & adoration to his God in front of the assembled throngs. This prayer, like his gifts of gold etc., could be said, to be David's legacy to the nation of Israel, to Solomon and by extension also to us. 1. WOW factor of God! (v10-13) I get a wow factor of God reading this! Look how David talks of God! You can tell that David has had a vibrant and intimate relationship with this God - the God of his youth and his old age. He piles up the metaphors! He speaks of God personally: thou, thee, you, yours, our, I, my. David praises God for who God is! Verse 10 sets the scene "Blessed be thou, LORD God of Israel our father, for ever and ever." God is their father! He is everlasting! Before Israel was, He is and always will be! He was to be their God and they were to be His people. God takes care of them as a father does His children - giving generously, protecting them and always being available for guidance & wisdom. Verse 11 is perhaps the central verse of this prayer: "Thine, O LORD is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, O LORD, and thou art exalted as head above all." The whole emphasis is on the LORD God! Greatness, power, glory, victory and majesty - all are yours O God - throughout the earth and the heavens! Yours is the kingdom! Not ours, but yours, O King! For they are attributes of a king! God's greatness is vast, incomparable and unfathomable. God's power is that of a warrior: almighty, overwhelming yet alluring; and all power comes from Him to every dependent creature. God's glory is the exuberant and ecstatic magnificence of His very being! Victory shows God as an all-conquering hero: transcendent and supreme, to whom all creatures and creation are subject. His victories are irrefutable and undeniable. His uncompromising majesty symbolises a dignity, regency, splendour and awesome magnificence! These things: greatness, power, glory, victory and majesty are essential attributes of who God is: indelible, immutable, unchangeable and permanent. God is a King in greater splendour than any of the excesses of King Louis XVI. If you don't know about Louis, go look him up and the scale of extravagance! This God is a mighty King to be exalted above all things and He is to be held in His rightful place: high and lifted up!As for the kingdom, whose is it? Is it Israel's? No! Is it David's? No! It is God's and His alone! His Kingdom is of total magnificence and greater than the Roman Empire to come! Even greater than the British Empire, which was never to see the sun set on it. Jesus is probably quoting here, in what we call the Lord's Prayer. So David's words resonate down through history.In this context however, David uses kingdom to symbolise the fact that the building materials, the amassed wealth, did not belong to Israel, but rather they were God's alone! God's kingdom shows His universal influence, authority and universality. Everything is God's! Its all His! Nobody can say they own ultimate possession of anything! The only reason, to paraphrase David, "we have this amassed wealth to build the Temple is because we have the leasehold to it! God owns the freehold, its all His and because of His generosity we can build Him this house!And not only these material possessions, but also the imagination, ingenuity, craftsmanship, skills and talents - well they all came from God as well, so you craftsmen, bless God because God has blessed you with skilled hands to work on His house! Your strength is ultimately from His unlimited resources of strength!" This is no impersonal statue or idol like the surrounding nations. This is the living God, awesome in all things yet willing to be involved in a personal relationship. This is the God, who through the Levitical Law, wants to live with His people of joy, to be their Living God! This God is the light of all things good, bright and blessed. He is the greatest of the greatest, truly incomprehensible yet also knowable. David is in utter adoration of this great God! I wonder if David knew that this physical Temple itself was only ever going to be a temporary building until the coming of the Messiah - when God would no longer dwell in a house made of gold and stone but rather live in human hearts. It is out of His wonderfully glorious grace that the Lord God Almighty gave the gifts in the first place and the cheerful sacrificial response from His people in gratitude to Him was remarkable! All these things were given willingly - the possessions, the gold, the silver, the skills, the power and strength - all in service of the great God of Israel, the great Father of Abraham, Isaac, Moses and the other patriarchs.Surely, this is a God worthy of all praise, worship and life commitment! Each person praises differently and in different ways, so let's rejoice when we see other people praising God differently to our own style. 2. David - its all Him (v14-20) That's the wow factor of God: a God who is abundant in greatness, power, glory, victory and majesty.Now let's look together at David himself! All the attributes of praise, given here by David to God, could with a great deal of justification, be said about Israel, or even David himself. They were at the time a strong nation and David quite rightly still on the throne. Israel's greatest King - full of power, might and majesty. But no! What does David say in v14? "But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort? For all things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee." Its all about God for David! He would say that I am only here because of Him! David has been reflecting on his whole life - from the time he defeated the Philistine armed only with a sling and stone. He sees his past failures, the utter depravity of those but also his repentant heart before a holy God. The end of verse 14 again, "All things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee", and this resonates down through history, in churches worldwide as the offering prayer.David exhibits great humility before God, and sets an example for his son, Solomon and the other people of Israel, to follow. And then in v15 "For we are strangers before thee, and sojourners, as were all our fathers: our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is none abiding" David acknowledges that Israel were only tenants in the Promised Land - on a leasehold agreement. They were a nation of sojourners travelling a journey, from their foundation as a nation onwards. It is like David was saying to the Lord: "We are here temporarily but You, O God, are here permanently. What an amazingly generous God you are, giving with such exceeding grace to us." David confesses they are but transient and aliens in the land God had given them. It is an image tying them to their patriarchs as they wandered in the wilderness, living only on what their God provided them with, as they looked for the Promised Land. It is also an image of an acknowledgement that all life is supremely dependent upon God and God alone. God was to be their God and they were to be His people - to be shining as a light to all nations as God's representatives. Here is the mighty King David, bowing in humility before a great God whom he adores, serves and worships. He knew that his whole life had been one of dependence upon God for all things, and David was exhibiting this before his people. David's prayer was that the people of Israel would continue to depend on God but also exhibit that dependence and show how God supplied them graciously. Not only for David but also for the Chronicler too! He was recording this for the people of Israel when they were in exile.The Chronicler reminds the people in exile to be utterly dependent upon God for all and everything. For the Chronicler, the building of the Temple was more a matter of the heart, and built upon the faith of God to supply. This faith was expressed in the building made of gold, silver, wood and other metals.It was due to God's generosity alone the Temple would be built and nothing to do with David and his people. It would have been a tremendous temptation to be filled with boastful pride about it. It was a test of people's hearts to see if they really did love their God.Then in the final words of this prayer, we see David praying for unreserved and enthusiastic giving from the people. He changes from acknowledgement to petition.In verses 18-20, David exhorts an outpouring of generosity from his people, from a heart filled with thanks - a heart acknowledging total dependence on God for all things - a heart & life of loyal obedience to Almighty God. Solomon also was to be wholeheartedly obedient and devoted fully to God. A heart filled with peace with God, a life totally devoted to Him, exhibited with joyful giving. That's what David was praying for his people and for his son Solomon. Its also what the Chronicler was expecting from the people in exile as he recounts this to them. It was to be a community effort of devotion and obedience to an almighty God, on whom they were dependent for all facets of human life. Everybody giving what they could - out of riches or poverty. 3. So what? Firstly, we saw the wow factor of God: a God who exudes greatness, power, glory, victory and majesty.Then we saw David's utter adoration and dependence upon the God that he knows intimately.So, finally, what does all this have to do with us?How often do we receive from our God, but not thank Him for it? We are to be thankful for every good gift that is given to us. We offer praises and thanks to Him, for who He is and for His generosity and grace towards us. Tonight's bible passage was a superb piece of thanksgiving. When was the last time you thanked God for all the things He has given you? How can we put this thanks and praise into action? Lets see quickly! Firstly, I am convinced there are enough wealthy Christians sitting in churches in the West, who could make significant donations and virtually eradicate a lot of the poverty in the developing world and indeed their own countries. This would be active Christian giving on a radical scale. In biblical stories, such as this from 1 Chronicles 29, its always those who had the most, gave the most as an example to others of God's generosity. After all, God owns it all anyway and it's only given as a loan from God and not a transference of ownership. As Christians, we are to desire to mature spiritually - growing in adoration, obedience and commitment to God. Perhaps the greatest indicator of today, concerns our giving. Giving is to be done whole-heartedly and cheerfully. It is also not so much about how much is given, but how much is left after giving and the attitude behind it. God looks beyond that which is given to the motive and attitude behind it. All our money and possessions belong to Him anyway, as we have seen, so giving is to be in response to this. Our money and possessions are a leasehold agreement not a freehold one. Giving done willingly is also not done to boost our own egos or for the feel-good factor, but rather to bring glory and honour to God as a thankful response to His giving all things to us.Many prayers seemingly go unanswered because God is waiting on people to be obedient to Him, in order to answer the unanswered prayers of others. .We are to be generous with everything we have, not just in the area of money but with our very lives. We all have time, information, knowledge imagination, gifts and talents. All these too are to be given back to God . That may well take radical action to do, but radical giving is what we are called to do. God has given everything so that you and I may live and have life, so by caring and giving, we will reflect that. Let's be radical church together and encourage others to be likewise. But, as we have seen, it's not only about giving money and resources. Giving is also to include skills, information, imagination and knowledge. Remember, the priests and craftsmen were waiting to give in the building of and service within the Temple.Churches, particularly these days, need to capture the imagination of those looking for a church home, and get them involved. Involvement in such a way that it builds up commitment to God and a growing adoration of Him. If people are involved, they will stay. It means training them up, to be fit for service within the church. If training for service doesn't occur, then commitment and dedication to God is likely to be diminished. If the same people do the same thing year after year, that local church will eventually die out. Each local church is only one generation away from closing its doors permanently.Giving, as we saw in tonight's passage, is also a community affair. This Church is to be a community, both within the church and outside of it, where the strongest members support the weakest members. But, as we also saw tonight, it is not just for leaders to give! Giving is to be for everyone! Every church has a fantastic array of knowledge, wisdom, possessions and imagination. Let us share that with people outside the church. Who knows what our caring and giving will do for them as it reflects the glory of God!Too often, we are found turning a blind eye to the suffering of others where the necessities of life are in sparse existence. Too often we neglect to give up our personal space, time, imagination, information and money generously to help the poor and needy in our local, national and global communities.By doing this giving collectively, we will show our faith to be real and practical. There are people out there in our local community just waiting for somebody to give generously to them. We need to be seen to be radically giving to all - of our money, our possessions, and also our time, imagination, knowledge, practical help, care and love. Let us show our relevance to our local community and not be seen as just a curious gathering of people meeting on a Sunday.If you have ideas of how you can help the church here at PBC in anyway, then see the elders or the Pastor and talk to them about it.So if I could summarise all this up in one sentence, it would be something like this "Ask not only what your God can give to you, but what great things you can do and give to your God." Tap or click here to download this sermon

Before Israel can move on to its bright future, it is going through the plagues. Join me to discuss Israel's current hard streak and how to make things better News From the Torah 10JAN24 - PODCAST

Dr. Chuck Herring | Ezekiel 37:1-14Interesting things happen in cemeteries.  Tonight, I want us to take a trip with the prophet Ezekiel to a very unusual one to say the least.  Keep in mind that He is writing to God's covenant people who are in exile in Babylon.  They've been there for several years, and they are incredibly discouraged even bordering on sheer hopelessness (37:11).  Is there a future for Israel?  Some say, “No, for all these OT prophecies must be applied spiritually to the church.”  Wait.  These prophecies are too detailed to be “spiritualized” and applied only to the church today.  Jesus taught a future for the Jews (Luke 22:29-30); so did Paul (Rom. 11); and so did John (Rev. 7:4-8, 14:1-5).[1]Ezekiel 37 easily may be divided into two sections by the introductory phrases “the hand of the Lord was upon me” in v. 1 and “the word of the Lord came again to me” in v. 15.  This chapter illustrates Israel's failed past, frustrated present, and future hope.  With that in mind, let's focus on an unusual vision that has often been referred to as…1. The Valley of Dry BonesEzekiel 37:1–3… The hand of the Lord was upon me, and He brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of the valley; and it was full of bones. 2 He caused me to pass among them round about, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley; and lo, they were very dry. 3 He said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” And I answered, “O Lord God, You know.” (1) The hand of the LORD came upon me: Ezekiel's remarkable prophetic experience is not specifically called a vision, but it certainly has all the markings of a vision.  Notice how the Scripture emphasizes that “He brought me out by the Spirit of the LORD.”   (1) In the middle of the valley; and it was full of bones: This was truly Death Valley; the floor of the valley was covered with human bones. The people represented by these bones were Jews and they were not only dead; they were also disgraced.  (In the thinking of ancient Israel, an unburied corpse with exposed remains was a shocking disgrace to the dead.)  (2) They were very dry: These dry bones are not only dead; they have been dead for a long time.  When something or someone has been dead for so long, we give up hope that it will ever live again.  It was a picture of utter defeat and desolation.  What a vivid description of the Jewish people! [2](3) Can these bones live?  Here's the crux of the issue.  Can a dead and impotent nation in exile and under the control of a godless nation be resurrected and become a living, thriving kingdom once again?One might hope that a recently dead corpse might somehow be resuscitated.  However, no one hopes that scattered, detached bones might live.  Ezekiel responded to God's question the only way he could, saying “O Lord GOD, You know.”§  Ezekiel had no hope for the bones, but he did have hope in God.§  Ezekiel did not presume to know what God wanted to do with the bones.§  Ezekiel was confident that God did know.2. Speaking Life To Dead Bones.Ezekiel 37:4–6… Again He said to me, “Prophesy over these bones and say to them, ‘O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.' 5 “Thus says the Lord God to these bones, ‘Behold, I will cause breath to enter you that you may come to life. 6 ‘I will put sinews on you, make flesh grow back on you, cover you with skin and put breath in you that you may come alive; and you will know that I am the Lord.' ” (4) Prophesy to these bones: In the previous verse, Ezekiel deliberately left the matter with God, to His power and wisdom.  In turn, God gave the prophet something to do. God commanded him to speak, to prophesy, to preach to the dry, dead bones.  By all outward observation this was a vain and foolish act. (4) O dry bones, hear the word of the LORD: Ezekiel could only preach this message by faith—faith in God's ability to do the impossible.  knew God's word had supernatural power. (5) Behold I will cause breath to enter you that you may come to life: God promised to fill the dry bones with breath—the breath of life.  (6) I will put sinews on you, make flesh grow back on you, cover you with skin and put breath in you that you may come alive: God promised to raise the Jewish people to life again.  This was not the creation of life from nothing; it was the restoration of life to something that had been long dead.The word for “breath” means wind or spirit.  Here is a promise that God would one day give the Holy Spirit to His covenant people under the blessings of the New Covenant…Ezekiel 36:24–28… “For I will take you from the nations, gather you from all the lands and bring you into your own land. 25 “Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. 26 “Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 “I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances. 28 “You will live in the land that I gave to your forefathers; so you will be My people, and I will be your God. Refer to Acts 2:1-4.3. Dead Bones Assemble TogetherEzekiel 37:7–8… So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold, a rattling; and the bones came together, bone to its bone. 8 And I looked, and behold, sinews were on them, and flesh grew and skin covered them; but there was no breath in them. (7) So I prophesied as I was commanded: If Ezekiel had any doubts, he put them away and did what God commanded him to do. To human perception this proclamation of the word of God was foolish, yet Ezekiel obeyed. (7) And as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold, a rattling; and the bones came together, bone to its bone: As Ezekiel prophesied, there was first a noise among the bones, a rattling.  As he continued, the bones began to assemble themselves into skeletons. (8) And I looked, and behold, a rattling; sinews were on them, and flesh grew and skin covered them; but there was no breath in them: After the bones were assembled, muscles and tissue came upon the bones. The bones were full of activity, yet still did not yet have the breath of life in them. The reviving of the dry bones clearly happened in stages.§  Stirring of the bones.§  Assembly of the bones.§  Sinews and flesh upon the bones.§  Skin upon the tissues covering the bones.§  Awaiting the breath of God.So here were men in skin, with flesh, sinews, bones; but, they were like Adam before God breathed into him the breath of life.4. The Second Prophecy To The BreathEzekiel 37:9–10… Then He said to me, “Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they come to life.” ' ” 10 So I prophesied as He commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they came to life and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army. (9) Prophesy to the breath: The previous verse left the valley full of revived, activated bodies that yet lacked breath.  Now Ezekiel was told to call upon the breath (spirit, wind), praying the breath/spirit would come on these who were in a sense the walking dead, so that they may live. (9) Come from the four winds, O breath: In this vision, Ezekiel had already proclaimed God's word to the dead and dry bones, and had seen a remarkable work done. Yet it was not enough. There also needed to be a work by the Holy Spirit.  Spurgeon commented…First, the prophet prophesies to the bones – here is preaching; and next, he prophesies to the four winds – here is praying. The preaching has its share in the work, but it is the praying which achieves the result, for after he had prophesied to the four winds, and not before, the bones began to live.(10) So I prophesied as He commanded me: Perhaps this was, humanly speaking, an easier message for Ezekiel to preach. He had the encouragement of seeing the beginning of a supernatural work with the activation of the dry bones. Now he prophesied and prayed for the work to be completed. (10) And the breath came into them and they came to life and stood on their feet: After Ezekiel's faithful proclamation of God's message, the work of reviving the dry bones was completed. The breath of God came into the reanimated bodies, and they stood upon their feet. (10) An exceedingly great army: The bones were not revived to become a group of spectators or to live for their own comfort. They became an army, and an exceedingly great one. They lived to act under the orders of the one who gave them life.How do these bones live again?  Derek Thomas said that God uses three means to accomplish His purpose.The preaching of the WordEzekiel is told to ‘prophesy' (37:4; literally: ‘preach God's Word'), and he does as he is told (37:7).The prayer of God's servantGod urges Ezekiel to call upon the ‘breath' to come and breathe into the slain (37:9).The power of the Holy SpiritThese are the ingredients of any great work of God.5. God Explains The VisionEzekiel 37:11… Then He said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel; behold, they say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope has perished. We are completely cut off.'” Okay, what does all this mean?  As our Lord and God often does, He explains what He means for us to understand about His Word.These bones are the whole house of Israel: We might have supposed that Ezekiel understood that the bones in his vision represented the exiled people from Judah.  It might have surprised him when God revealed they represented the whole house of Israel. The restoration would include those from the northern kingdom of Israel that fell to the Assyrians some 150 years earlier. Our bones are dried up, our hope has perished. We are completely cut off: The house of Israel had reason to say this, both those from the south and the north. Their only hope for life and restoration was God.Ezekiel 37:12… “Therefore prophesy and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “Behold, I will open your graves and cause you to come up out of your graves, My people; and I will bring you into the land of Israel.” Behold, I will open your graves and cause you to come up out of your graves, My people: Instead of the bones being exposed, here they are buried in graves. The effect is the same; life is brought to that which was dead.And I will Bring you into the land of Israel: As promised many times in other places (Ezekiel 36:24 and 36:28), this revival of Israel also included their restoration to the land.  This is a political and a spiritual restoration!Ezekiel 37:13… “Then you will know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves and caused you to come up out of your graves, My people.” Then you shall know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves and caused you to come out of your graves, My people: God would powerfully reveal Himself to Israel through this great work of revival and restoration to the land.Ezekiel 37:14… “I will put My Spirit within you and you will come to life, and I will place you on your own land. Then you will know that I, the Lord, have spoken and done it,” declares the Lord.' ” I will put My Spirit within you and you will come to life, and I will place you on your own land:breath in the revived bones was more than the breath of human life; it was the Spirit of the living God. This is another way of expressing the great promise found in the previous chapter (Ezekiel 36:27).In verses 11 to 14, I want you to see three promises from God…(1) He's will restore them to the land.  (2) He will reverse their spiritual death with resurrection life. (3) He will put the Holy Spirit Himself within them.Undeniably, Ezekiel 37:1-14 is about God's promised restoration of Israel in the last days.  This pictures the future revival of the nation, when the Jews will be brought up out of the “graves” of the Gentile nations where they have been scattered.  Politically, this took place May 14, 1948, when the modern nation of Israel entered the family of nations again. Of course, the nation is dead spiritually; but one day when Christ returns, the nation will be born in a day and be saved.[3]APPENDIX15 Facts About Palestine: 1. Palestine was NOT an Arab nation in 1948 when Israel was created. The Jewish people did not take over someone else's country. 1.      Great Britain, in fact, controlled that region of the Middle East until she grew tired of governing the volatile area and asked the UN to decide what to do with it.2.      Before Great Britain was tasked with administrating the region after WWI, the Turks had controlled it since the early 1500s. Turks are not Arabs.3.      In fact, Palestine has never been the name of any country! 2. Where did the name "Palestine" come from?” 1.      The Romans!2.      In an effort to rid Judea of its Jewishness, the Romans renamed the area Filistia (Palestine) in the mid-130s CE. They were tired of pesky Jewish uprisings (70 CE, 132 CE) and so decided to deport the Jews and change the name. The name came from the ancient Philistines, who have no connection to present-day Arabs. The Philistines were wiped out in 600 BCE by the Babylonians.3.      It was a region and never a nation. There has never been a president of the state of Palestine or a government. It could be compared to New England, which is a region in America and has no government.4.      Furthermore, the region of Palestine never had any connection with an Arab ethnicity.  3. The UN Partition Vote (Nov. 29, 1947) did not merely give Israel authority to create a state, but granted the Arabs living on the West side of the Jordan River also to create an independent Arab country next to Israel. 1.      The Arabs rejected "Partition." They could have had their own nation in 1948, but they said no.2.      The Jews accepted "Partition," and on May 14th, 1948, Israel was re-birthed.3.      The Arabs in the West Bank became part of Jordan, and in Gaza, they became part of Egypt.4.      The Arabs declared war on Israel the day after the UN vote. Five Arab nations, plus the local population, attacked the new Jewish state and lost. 5.      Again, they could have had peace and their own Arab nation but chose war.5.  When the PLO was created, Jordan controlled the West Bank. 1.      The goal of the PLO was to liberate Palestine. However, the West Bank was already in Arab hands. Jordan controlled it. And Egypt controlled Gaza.2.      The "Palestine" they wanted to liberate was Israel proper.3.      In other words, if their goal was to create an independent Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza, then they should've been fighting Jordan and Egypt, not Israel!4.      Of course, their goal was Israel's complete demise. Its original charter called for the liberation of all Palestine. Their maps make no mention of Israel.5. Before Israel was re-birthed in 1948, any person who lived in that region was considered Palestinian: Arab or Jew. The Jewish-owned newspaper was called the Palestine Post. QUESTIONS:1.              Why would any Jew name his newspaper after another people group?2.              Why would any Jew name his paper after an Arab country?Of course, he would not. The word "Palestinian" never referred to an Arab ethnic group—remember, it came from the Romans. It was an invented narrative. That is why former US Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich referred to the Palestinians as an "invented people." (NOTE: That does not mean that they are bad people. Each one of them was made in the image of God. We're not talking here about their value, which is great before God, but history.)6. Jerusalem was the capital of Israel under King David. It has never been the capital of any other country—including Palestine. It has never (until Israel controlled it) been significant to Arabs. 1.      In other words, you will not find these words in the Koran but in the Hebrew Bible: If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy. (Ps. 137: 5-6)2.      The Ottoman Empire ruled over Jerusalem for 400 years. It meant nothing to them, even though they were Muslims.3.      When Mark Twain visited Palestine under Turkish rule he wrote that it was a "desolate country whose soil is rich enough, but is given over wholly to weeds...a silent mournful expanse...We never saw a human being on the whole route. There was hardly a tree or a shrub anywhere. Even the olive and the cactus, those fast friends of the worthless soil, had almost deserted the country." 4.      It only became important to the Arab and Islamic world, after the Jewish people began to return and redeem the land. 5.      It should be noted that the Jews purchased the land and did not steal it. How could they? They were under Turkish rule. They started the Jewish National Fund and lawfully purchased land in Palestine. In 1919, there were approximately 500,000 Arabs in what is now called Israel. That number mushroomed to about 1.3 million by the time Israel declared independence. In other words, over those 30 years (1919-1948) well over half of the Arabs in Palestine were not born in Palestine. They came as immigrants from all over the Middle East because of the economic opportunities that the Jewish pioneers were creating as they were clearing the land and establishing farms. Once again, this proves that there is no long history of Palestinian culture and that they are just after the city. 7. When Israel captured Jerusalem in 1967, it was not from Palestinians but from Jordan. QUESTIONS:1.      Why didn't Palestinians demand Jerusalem when Jordan controlled it (1948-1967)?2.      Why didn't the Jordanians create an independent Palestinian state in the West Bank in 1948? It was certainly within their power. The reason is simple. Jordanians made no distinction between Arabs who lived east of the Jordan and those who lived west of the Jordan.  8. Israel had no plans to attack Jordan during the Six-Day War.  Jordan's King Hussein believed the false reports from Egyptian President Nasser of Egypt that they were winning the war against Israel. King Hussein, in hopes of getting more land, attacked Israel, and his troops were driven back over the Jordan River in a matter of days. That is how Israel ended up with Jerusalem in 1967. Taking Jerusalem was not one of the military objectives of the Six-Day War. It was a gift from Jordan. Israel sent word to the king of Jordan through the United Nations that Israel would not attack their forces if they did not enter the war. Had they heeded that advice, Jerusalem would still be part of Jordan. 9. There is no language known as Palestinian.  Palestinian Arabs speak Arabic like Jordanians, Syrians, and Egyptians.10. There is no rich Palestinian history.  You will not find history books that detail Palestinian culture going back centuries.11. Palestinians are Arabs, indistinguishable from Jordanians, Lebanese, Egyptians, Iraqis, and others. I want to continue to be clear. There is nothing wrong with being Arab. We are not arguing any type of racial superiority. That is not of God. We love the Arab peoples and want their best. We are simply making the point that there is no Palestinian Arab ethnicity or history.12. Most of the Arab countries in the Middle East are relatively new. 1.      Jordan was created in 1922 by Great Britain. They took 80% of ancient Palestine and created Transjordan. She achieved independence in  1946.2.      The Syrians were under French control until 1946 when they became a nation.3.      Lebanon achieved independence from France in 1943.4.      Iraq became an independent nation in 1958. These were nations created after World War I from within the Turkish Ottoman Empire. None of them existed before the San Remo Conference in 1920. The purpose of this conference was to decide which Allied nations would take responsibility for the different regions of the now-defeated Ottoman Empire. 13. The total land mass of Arab states (and this doesn't even include non-Arab states in the Middle East like Iran and Turkey) is 98.4 compared to Israel's 1.6 percent. 14. When the Jewish people began to return to ‘Palestine' in the late 1800s: 1.      The Turks, not the Arabs, controlled it.2.      Every bit of land was paid for by the returning Jews—nothing was stolen! 3.      Even in 1948, when Israel declared independence, the Arabs were invited to join the new state. Many did, becoming the most liberated Arabs in the Middle East, enjoying freedoms never known in Syria, Egypt, or Saudi Arabia. (I regularly see Arab women taking driving lessons!) Israeli Arabs are the only Middle Eastern Arabs with full civil liberties like freedom of speech and religion. 4.      However, roughly 800,000 Arabs fled Israel, assuming that the five Arab nations would crush the new Jewish state. The gamble didn't pay off, and they became refugees. 5.      The Arab nations did nothing to help integrate the refugees into their society but kept them in refugee camps until today. 15. Israel was a swamp-infested wasteland that no one, including the Arabs, really cared about.  Until the Jews returned, the land suffered neglect. It was only after the Jews came back and made the land prosperous and fruitful again that the Palestinian Arab narrative was invented. The Religious Significance of Jerusalem Jerusalem or Zion appears nearly one thousand times in the Hebrew Bible and New Testament, whereas it never appears in the Koran.  Again, this is about history, not about any type of superiority or racism against Arabs. God loves the Arabs and made them to love him. He also loves the Jewish people and will not ignore the covenant he made with Abraham and confirmed with Isaac and Jacob.[1] Warren W. Wiersbe, Wiersbe's Expository Outlines on the Old Testament (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1993), Eze 37.[2] Warren W. Wiersbe, Wiersbe's Expository Outlines on the Old Testament (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1993), Eze 37.[3] Warren W. Wiersbe, Wiersbe's Expository Outlines on the Old Testament (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1993), Eze 37.

We are in a transition season, and what we have known in the past is no longer sufficient for where God is taking us. Israel faced this transition after they crossed the Jordan. They moved from a season characterised by “coming out” to a new season of “going in” - taking the land that God had promised them. This was an entirely new operating system. As we finish laying the foundation for 2023 at i61, Tim looks at Joshua 5. Before Israel could take Jericho - the first city they were to conquer - there had to be a fresh consecration for a generation that “had not been circumcised along the way”. It is a season for us to “set the table” and “raise the army”. The dry bones from past seasons are starting to rattle as the Spirit of God is breathing new life over us!

Before Israel can march through the wilderness they need to get their camp in order. Such organization is instructive for our own spiritual lives as well! Enjoy this sample of Lesson 2, "Departing Mt. Sinai" from Dr. Nick's course, "Numbers: Encountering God in the Wilderness." Anyone can join our community of students and stream the entire audio lesson and full course (and other courses too!) whenever they wish.

Baat Enosh is leading Nia Growth, a fresh startup in the finance world, focused on women and investments in the markets. Before Nia, Baat served as Director of Transformation working with EY's CTO. A position which followed years in Israel, where she established and grew the Fintech giant Intuit with a local R&D center, leading with multiple roles – from Security, to Strategy & Innovation, to Site Leader and Head of Data Science. Before Israel, she spent years in Silicon Valley focusing on futuristic products at Intuit's Innovation group, implementing Intuit's renowned Customer Driven Innovation practices.Prior to Intuit, Baat was busy as VP Ops at Founder Labs – an “accelerator focusing on mobile products”, as COO of Women 2.0, and as the manager of the Entrepreneurial Alliance at NCWIT. These years established Baat as a speaker and SME on the topic of diversity in tech. Additionally, she enjoyed learning firsthand Lean Startup thinking from the icons Eric Ries, Steve Blank, and Scott Cook. Prior to all that, she spent her most technical years in enterprise management software.Outside work, Baat is raising 3 kids, enjoys skiing, competitive skydiving, indoor-wind-tunnel, and yoga. She holds a B.S. and M.S. in Computer Science from the University of Colorado at Boulder

Before Israel entered the Promised Land, Moses delivered a final speech, one last reminder of God's faithfulness, love, and expectations. There is still much we can learn from what is now known as the Book of Deuteronomy today. Join Dream City Omaha as Pastor Angel Weasel shares four key questions we face in Deuteronomy: 1. Is it time to move on? 2. What have you done with your freedom? 3. Have you forgotten where you came from? 4. Are you falling in love with the Lord your God?

Before Israel could possess the land of Canaan, God's requirement of them was that they would be willing to enter with faith, face warfare, and be courageous. In the same way, for us to enter into the future God has purposed for us, it is essential to walk in His paths which involve timing and trust. God's promises include His provision and presence. Let us embrace and own the new season, standing and fighting for that which the Lord has planned for us in this time. We must walk in God's power with confidence, compliance, and commitment. Let us commit ourselves to trusting Him, honouring His Word, and walking in obedience. Let us walk into our future with committed, confident hearts. Let us be willing to walk with the Lord so that we can walk in His victory. God has good plans for us and our future. The future is before us and our hope will not be cut off. Because He has promised them to us, the things which we are hoping for are already assured and guaranteed. We are representatives of God, walking in humble obedience, and His anointing, love, presence, help, and power. Through and in Him we survive and thrive. He will never fail, leave or forsake us

Bible Study with Jairus - Numbers 35 Cities of Refuge       Levitical Cities: An Enlarged Replica of the Tabernacle   The first few verses of Numbers 35 present an interesting paradox. Numbers 35:4 says, "The pasturelands of the cities, which you shall give to the Levites, shall reach from the wall of the city outward a thousand cubits all around."[1] However, verse five says, "You shall measure, outside the city, on the east side two thousand cubits, and on the south side two thousand cubits, and on the west side two thousand cubits, and on the north side two thousand cubits, the city being in the middle. This shall belong to them as pastureland for their cities." Which is it? One thousand or two thousand? These verses have puzzled rabbis and interpreters through the ages. The complicated explanations are too complex to include here.   The Holy Spirit showed me that the size, design, and layout of the cities of the Levites were probably proportional to the dimensions of the Tabernacle's Holy of Holies and sanctuary. The tabernacle's Holy of Holies and sanctuary was 10 X 30, and I surmise that the city pasturelands may have been 3000 X 1000.   During the wilderness wanderings, the tabernacle was always on the move. The tabernacle represented the presence of God. Upon entering the Promised land, the tabernacle stood still and resided in Shiloh. But this did not mean that the presence of God, represented by the tabernacle, was no longer with the Israelites during the expansion of the land. The size of their towns may have reminded them of the tabernacle, reminding them that God was with them.   As the Israelites were scattered through the land, living and fighting in various places, it would have been easy to forget that God's presence was still with them. But God wanted to dwell among the Israelites. What should He do? The 42 cities inhabited by the Levites plus the 6 cities of refuge formed a giant replica of the tabernacle to remind them of his presence.   The different tribes of Levites had different responsibilities. The Kohathites carried items from the sanctuary and the Holy of Holies, while the Gershonites and Merarites carried the items from the outer courtyard (Numbers 3). Although they were all Levites, their service varied in scope. Similarly, all believers today are priests. With Jesus Christ, our High Priest, we serve our Heavenly Father. But level of maturity of each Christian varies greatly. Some serve in the outer courtyard, while others serve in the sanctuary. Among those who serve in the sanctuary, some are near the outer courtyard while some are near the Holy of Holies.   Archaeologists discovered that 1,000 square cubits is 202,500 square meters. Counting the size of the pasturelands around the cities, the cities would be even bigger. This was a very spacious city at the time; most cities at the time were not this big. However, this was God's ideal design for the Levites. Just like the Israelites failed to expand into the full territory God gave them, the Levites may have failed to build their cities this big. However, God's original plan was to give them large cities.   God longed to be with the Israelites. After talking about Levitical cities and cities of refuge, God says, "You shall not defile the land in which you live, in the midst of which I dwell, for I the Lord dwell in the midst of the people of Israel" (vs. 34). Clearly, the Lord dwelt among the Israelites.   How did the Lord dwell among the Israelites? In addition to dwelling in the tabernacle at Shiloh, He also dwelt in every Levitical city. The high priest was a Levite who could enter the Holy of Holies and get close to God. If a high priest lived in a city, it could be compared to the Holy of Holies. That's why I likened the cities of the Levites to the dimensions of the tabernacle. The pasturelands were measured in four directions (east, west, north and south). It's as if there were four replicas of the Holy of Holies and the sanctuary. When fleeing to a city of refuge, the individual Israelite would see a picture of the Holy of Holies and the sanctuary facing them.   Levitical Cities: reminder of God's presence The time and place here are clearly indicated in the first verse of this chapter. Verse 1 says, "The Lord spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho..." Before Israel even crossed the Jordan River, God spoke to them in the plains of Moab by the Jordan River. Shiloh was on the west of the Jordan River. Probably after the Israelites crossed the Jordan River from the plains of Moab, the tabernacle remained at Shiloh until the ark was brought to Jerusalem.   The tabernacle was a picture of God's presence. The Israelites carried the tabernacle through the wilderness and finally came to Canaan. In other words, the tabernacle was God's presence among the Israelites. This presence was always with the Israelites on their journey. As Paul said in 1 Corinthians 10, Christ was the spiritual rock that accompanied the Israelites (1 Corinthians 10:4).   After the people arrived in the promised land, the tabernacle remained at Shiloh. It no longer moved along with the Israelites on their travels. The Israelites needed God's presence, and God longed to be with the Israelites (Numbers 35:34). Now that the tabernacle did not move, God would show his continued presence through the establishment and expansion of the Levitical cities.   The Lord commanded Moses to give 42 cities and 6 cities of refuge to the Levites, three on the west side of the Jordan River and three on the east side of it. Please note that at this time, the tribes of Israel had not yet cast lots for their land assignments (Joshua 13-19). Even after the casting of lots, they didn't get the lands right away. At the beginning of the book of Judges, Judah and the other tribes were still taking the land of the Canaanites after Joshua's death. The Israelites were unsuccessful in driving out many Canaanites, and God was displeased (Judges 2:1-5). The Israelites were commanded to expand gradually to eventually occupy 42 Levitical cities. Not until Joshua chapter 20 did the Lord instruct Joshua to establish cities of refuge. Not until Joshua 21 do the Levites receive a total of 48 cities (42 cities plus 6 cities of refuge).   Perhaps every Levite city was a reminder of the tabernacle as the Israelite borders continued to expand. Although the Israelites could still come to the tabernacle of Shiloh and draw near to God, it was far from convenient. In the wilderness, the Levites, like the other twelve tribes of Israel, were camped near tent of meeting (Numbers 2:2). It was easy and convenient to draw near to God in the tent of meeting. But in the Promised Land, it was not as convenient to approach God through the Levites in the tent of meeting.   Let's think about an example. After Caleb entered the Promised land, he had to fight during the day to occupy the land. At night, when he wanted to offer sacrifices to God through the Levites, he lived too far away from Shiloh to do so.   How could the Israelites continue to offer sacrifices to God and approach God through the Levites? The 42 Levite cities and 6 cities of refuge were established among the tribes of Israel to make it easier for these Israelites to continue to come near to God through the Levites. Just like a modern-day military chaplain accompanies the troops on the battlefield, the Levites could continue serving the Israelites' spiritual needs.   Although we know that sacrifices were restricted to the tabernacle and later the temple, that doesn't mean that the Levites living among the people couldn't minister to the other spiritual needs of the Israelites. For example, Moses prayed for Joshua while he was in battle, and Aaron and Hur helped Moses by holding up his hands. Though Hur is from the tribe of Judah and Joshua is from the tribe of Ephraim, Moses and Aaron are both from the tribe of Levi. In addition to handling the sacrifices, the Levites could also pray for the Israelites' battles.   The cities of the Levites were not a replacement for the tabernacle (later, temple). They could not administer sacrifices or other services of the tabernacle. Rather, the Levitical cities, in a spiritual sense, could provide prayer and encouragement to the Israelites. In this way, the dwellings of the Levites represented the presence of God, which was necessary to assure victory to the Israelites.   A Spiritual Picture The tabernacle is the most important spiritual picture in the Old Testament. Almost all spiritual truths and experiences can be explained by the metaphor of the tabernacle. For example, the tabernacle had three parts: the outer courtyard, the sanctuary, and the Holy of Holies. These three areas represent the human body, soul, and spirit, respectively. If we apply this metaphor to the cities and pasturelands of the Levites, then the Israelites who lived outside the cities of the Levites lived in the outer courtyard. In the Old Testament tabernacle/temple, ordinary Jews could only enter the outer courtyard to worship God. There, the Levites helped them offer sacrifices. Only the Levites could enter the sanctuary, and only the High Priest could enter the Holy of Holies.   The Israelites in each region were just ordinary Israelites living in the outer courtyard. But in the center of each region was a city of the Levites, representing the Holy of Holies. God was physically present with the Israelites by means of the Levites. On the surface, it would appear that the tribes of Israel showed mercy to the Levites by giving them land. But in reality, the Levites were a blessing to the Israelites. God chose the Levites to serve Him. Through them, God showed His presence to the Israelites.   Transition from Tabernacle to Temple Even after the tabernacle came to rest at Shiloh, it would be many decades before the temple was built. God was waiting for the right time and for the right person to build the temple. Although David wanted to build the temple, God told him that he would not be able to do it because he was a man of war. However, David prepared countless materials, made plans, and hired human talent for Solomon's future construction of the temple. During this transitional period, God's presence may inhabit the cities of the Levites besides the tabernacle.   Christ is our city of refuge, and Levitical cities are a picture of God's dwelling place in Christ. So, our guess that Levitical cities were proportional to the tabernacle is not entirely a guess.   Later, the Levites were not cared for by the Israelites. Some were homeless and had no food to eat. The book of Judges tells the story of a Levite who was taken care of by Micah of the hill country of Ephraim but later robbed by the tribe of Dan (Judges 17-18).   The Israelites were supposed to give a tenth of their goods to the Levites so that the Levites could draw near to God and bring God's presence and blessing to the Israelites. This is a positive cycle. However, the history of the Israelites portrays a negative cycle. The Israelites did not take care of the Levites. The Levites did not draw close to God. And in the end, the Israelites collectively turned away from God and were disciplined by Him.   This negative cycle continued until 1 Samuel. Here, God specifically mentions that Eli's two sons were priests (1 Samuel 1:3) that did not know the Lord (1 Samuel 2). Eli's eyesight had begun to grow dim. The Bible says that "the word of the Lord was rare in those days; there was no frequent vision." (1 Samuel 3:1).   Later, while fighting the Philistines, the Israelites placed a superstitious trust in the Ark of the Covenant, thinking that with the presence of the Ark, they would surely win the battle. Unfortunately, not only did they lose the battle, but they also allowed the ark of God to be captured. The Israelites did not realize that God had already been with them through the cities of the Levites, and that they needed to practice taking care of the Levites to take care of their relationship with God. Their neglect of the Levites plus the fall of the Levites ultimately led to their defeat. Blind faith in the Ark is useless. Similarly, a Christian who never prays, never reads the Bible, and doesn't pay attention to his spiritual life shouldn't expect God to answer superstitious, last-minute crisis prayers.   Today, Christ is our City of Refuge and Immanuel The pastureland surrounding the cities of refuge or outside of the Levite's own pastureland may have been a little bigger. The larger pasture may represent the outer courtyard, where the bronze altar is set up and where sins can be covered. Imagine that a person who has accidentally killed someone is fleeing to the city of refuge. At the same time, a family member of the victim is chasing him down. It's a very urgent situation. How far away from the city (2,000 cubits, 5,000 cubits, or 10,000 cubits) should the person who is fleeing be considered as entering it? There has to be a border, right? Perhaps the cities of refuge in ancient Israel had a larger pastureland. As long as you had entered this area, you were safe. But this is just my guess.   Today, every Christian and every home is a tabernacle and a city of Levites. We can all be a city of refuge. Our friends and relatives can flee to Christ (city of refuge) through us. The Levites were the leaders of the cities of refuge, and God dwelled among the cities through His invisible presence. Those who accidentally killed someone and fled to the city of the Levites were fleeing under the protection of God.   Similarly, today's church represents the Levites. Sinners who flee to the safety of believers are fleeing to Christ, the city of refuge. We are the Levites today, and God is with us. The church is like a modern city of refuge. Back then, the Israelites fell away from God because they neglected the presence of God as mediated through the Levites. In the same way, believers today can fall away as they neglect God's presence. May we all cherish the presence of Christ, Immanuel. Although we cannot see Him with our eyes, we know that He has promised to be with us every day until the end of the age (Matthew 28:20).       [1] All Scripture quotations are taken from the English Standard Version unless otherwise noted.

< Back to Joshua IndexTALKS FOR GROWING CHRISTIANSThe Division of the Land on the East Side of the Jordan Printed Version BACKGROUND NOTESDOCTRINAL POINT(S)Believers must possess their inheritance.Believers must dispossess their inheritance.PRACTICAL APPLICATIONLet's live more like the Levites.QUESTIONSLet's live more like the Levites.Why did they want their portion on the East Side?Why was Levi given no inheritance?How is the Book of Joshua divided?Why did the Lord say to Joshua that he was old and advanced in years?Did the tribes complete the job of possession of the land?How will the enemy be disposed from our inheritance?ANSWERSReuben, Gad and one-half of Manasseh.They had asked to live there. See Numbers 32.Because the Lord God of Israel was their inheritance. They were to serve the Lord full time.The first half concerned the conquering of the land; in the second half, beginning with Joshua 13 the division and settling of the land is recorded.Joshua was at least in his 90s. He had done a great job and the seven years of conquest was over, but a lot of territory still needed to be possessed.No. They failed to conquer the Philistines (see Joshua 13:2).By looking to the Lord and following the principles that God has laid down in His word.DISCUSS/CONSIDERThe land of Canaan was given to the Israelites by God Himself. But they had to possess their inheritance. The same is true for believers today. God has given us an inheritance in the land of spiritual blessings, but it is up to us to possess it. Have you possessed your inheritance? Or are you full of fears -of dying, of the future? Do you have the joy and peace of the Lord?Before Israel could fully possess their inheritance, they must fully disposses the land of the enemy forces. God promises victory to us just as He promised it to them. Little by little as we follow the Lord and mature in the faith, we will see victory over sin and temptation, and we will be strengthened as we move out and claim territory that is still in enemy hands. This applies not only to our priorities and world views, where Satan loves to have control, but it applies to our Christian service as well. How are you doing?CHALLENGEThe Levites had no inheritance except the Lord God. He was sufficient for every need. They were not concerned with material things like houses, property, herds, etc. They were more streamlined in their lifestyle. They were occupied with serving the Lord. As a result, they were closer to the Lord. Are there things that keep you more occupied than serving the Lord? What are your priorities concerning possessions? Can you say with David, "The Lord is the portion of my inheritance" (Psalm 16:5-6)? Can you identify your goal with Paul's, "That I may know Him" (Philippians 3:10)?KEY VERSES"Now Joshua was old and well advanced in years. And the Lord said to him, 'You are very old and there remains much land yet to be possessed." (Joshua 13:1)"To the tribe of Levi, Moses had given no inheritance...the Lord God of Israel was their inheritance." (Joshua 13:33)

Before Israel could conquer any of the promised land, they had to first be conquered by God. But He takes no one by force. To be "conquered" by God is to willingly submit yourself every day, out of love and obedience. TAKING GROUND // As followers of Jesus, we want to constantly be taking ground for the Kingdom of God as He leads us through life. Join us as we look at the how God led Joshua and the nation of Israel into the land He promised them.

Before Israel was a nation, he was one man. And his name wasn’t even Israel – it was Jacob. Throughout his life, Jacob was always playing the role of the liar and the deceiver, tricking even his own family to get what he wanted. But one night, Jacob wrestled with God. And because of that one night, Jacob was changed forever – and we can be, too.

Before Israel can get to get the Promised Land, there is a formidable obstacle in their way; the Jorden River. There always is When we are called by God to join Him and walk by faith. We can draw strenght in knowing our Gd is among us and that those our God is among us and that those steps of faith are preparation! Meanwhile, the priests who were carrying the Ark of the Lord's Covenant stood on dry ground in the middle of the riverbed as the people passed by. They waited there until the whole nation of is Israel had crossed the Jorden on dry ground.

Before Israel can get to get the Promised Land, there is a formidable obstacle in their way; the Jorden River. There always is When we are called by God to join Him and walk by faith. We can draw strenght in knowing our Gd is among us and that those our God is among us and that those steps of faith are preparation! Meanwhile, the priests who were carrying the Ark of the Lord's Covenant stood on dry ground in the middle of the riverbed as the people passed by. They waited there until the whole nation of is Israel had crossed the Jorden on dry ground.

In this episode Chris starts a new series called Journey to Your New Normal. It is our hope that this series will help you through the tough challenges you are facing and give you hope during this crazy time. Links & Show Notes: -Quick history from the book of Joshua: how Israel faced the same kinds of troubled times we have now--it's uncanny. -Why Joshua and Caleb were the only two of the original two million that crossed the Red Sea to go into the Promised Land. -In order to start where we're at, we need to take stock of where we are.  -Before Israel got ready to enter the Promised Land, God told them they needed to do three things:  go across conquer the land dwell in the land (inhabit) -Before we can start the journey to our new normal we have to make the same three commitments. We can't stay stuck on the other side of the Jordan.  -Conquering the land means declaring war on the things that are keeping us stuck. -Best advice ever: Three things about this journey we cannot escape (from Pastor Jeremy Foster at Hope City Church in Houston. Next week: Crossing the Jordan. Scripture verses from this episode: Numbers 13-14:Joshua and Caleb's story Joshua 1:10-The three things Israel had to do Isaiah 50:11 Rom. 12:2 & Pr. 3:5-6 Ps. 27:4 Deut. 4:29 Tell us what you think in the comments section or visit our Facebook page here and join the conversation.  Links: Our April episodes on finding your new normal (click here)

Before Israel’s new government can be sworn in, the battle against surrendering part of the biblical Promised Land for a Palestinian state is heating up. One person wrote to President Trump saying, “You wouldn’t ask a Jew to eat a ham sandwich, yet you are insisting we do something much more abhorrent.” Will there be a Palestinian state? End of the Age has the answers.

David's Final Prayer 1 Chronicles 29:10-20 Introduction Tonight, we delve into the book of 1 Chronicles and this great and perhaps last public prayer of the great King David! It is a fabulous piece of Scripture, I am sure you agree, that tells us a lot about God we as Christians claim to know and love, as well as how we are to respond to Him. Originally 1 & 2 Chronicles were one book. It was the final book of the Jewish Canon, probably written by Ezra and was also known as the "the events of the days", "the things omitted" which would suggest that Chronicles were to be regarded as additional to the books of Kings and Samuel. It's a book which was written for those from the nation of Israel who are now in exile, to remind them of their spiritual heritage - the journey & history of Israel as a nation. For us though, not least I, it issues certain challenges to us all. Right mouse click or tap here to download this sermon Here is the great king David! Now here to Chapter 29, we have King David in his final days before handing over the crown to his son, Solomon. David is no longer the shepherd-boy who slew Goliath. He is at the end of his life. He wanted to build the temple himself, but God told him in 1 Chronicles 28v3 "You are not to build a house for my Name, because you are a warrior and have shed blood." The building of the Temple was to be ultimately achieved by his great son Solomon to do! What has happened so far? So what has happened so far, according to the Chronicler? In the previous verses before our reading, we see how David has given publicly a great deal of wealth including gold, silver and other personal possessions for this building - the great Temple. This was to serve as an active encouragement for others to also give generously! Not only of their material possessions, but also as we read from 1 Chronicles 28v21, their talents and craftsmanship as well! This house of God would be a community effort - King & pauper alike, giving generously and honestly! So here is David, a man, who despite his many faults, is described as a man after God's own heart. Israel's greatest king, saying this prayer of intimate praise & adoration to his God in front of the assembled throngs. This prayer, like his gifts of gold etc., could be said, to be David's legacy to the nation of Israel, to Solomon and by extension also to us. 1. WOW factor of God! (v10-13) I get a wow factor of God reading this! Look how David talks of God! You can tell that David has had a vibrant and intimate relationship with this God - the God of his youth and his old age. He piles up the metaphors! He speaks of God personally: thou, thee, you, yours, our, I, my. David praises God for who God is! Verse 10 sets the scene "Blessed be thou, LORD God of Israel our father, for ever and ever." God is their father! He is everlasting! Before Israel was, He is and always will be! He was to be their God and they were to be His people. God takes care of them as a father does His children - giving generously, protecting them and always being available for guidance & wisdom. Verse 11 is perhaps the central verse of this prayer: "Thine, O LORD is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, O LORD, and thou art exalted as head above all." The whole emphasis is on the LORD God! Greatness, power, glory, victory and majesty - all are yours O God - throughout the earth and the heavens! Yours is the kingdom! Not ours, but yours, O King! For they are attributes of a king! God's greatness is vast, incomparable and unfathomable. God's power is that of a warrior: almighty, overwhelming yet alluring; and all power comes from Him to every dependent creature. God's glory is the exuberant and ecstatic magnificence of His very being! Victory shows God as an all-conquering hero: transcendent and supreme, to whom all creatures and creation are subject. His victories are irrefutable and undeniable. His uncompromising majesty symbolises a dignity, regency, splendour and awesome magnificence! These things: greatness, power, glory, victory and majesty are essential attributes of who God is: indelible, immutable, unchangeable and permanent. God is a King in greater splendour than any of the excesses of King Louis XVI. If you don't know about Louis, go look him up and the scale of extravagance! This God is a mighty King to be exalted above all things and He is to be held in His rightful place: high and lifted up! As for the kingdom, whose is it? Is it Israel's? No! Is it David's? No! It is God's and His alone! His Kingdom is of total magnificence and greater than the Roman Empire to come! Even greater than the British Empire, which was never to see the sun set on it. Jesus is probably quoting here, in what we call the Lord's Prayer. So David's words resonate down through history. In this context however, David uses kingdom to symbolise the fact that the building materials, the amassed wealth, did not belong to Israel, but rather they were God's alone! God's kingdom shows His universal influence, authority and universality. Everything is God's! Its all His! Nobody can say they own ultimate possession of anything! The only reason, to paraphrase David, "we have this amassed wealth to build the Temple is because we have the leasehold to it! God owns the freehold, its all His and because of His generosity we can build Him this house! And not only these material possessions, but also the imagination, ingenuity, craftsmanship, skills and talents - well they all came from God as well, so you craftsmen, bless God because God has blessed you with skilled hands to work on His house! Your strength is ultimately from His unlimited resources of strength!" This is no impersonal statue or idol like the surrounding nations. This is the living God, awesome in all things yet willing to be involved in a personal relationship. This is the God, who through the Levitical Law, wants to live with His people of joy, to be their Living God! This God is the light of all things good, bright and blessed. He is the greatest of the greatest, truly incomprehensible yet also knowable. David is in utter adoration of this great God! I wonder if David knew that this physical Temple itself was only ever going to be a temporary building until the coming of the Messiah - when God would no longer dwell in a house made of gold and stone but rather live in human hearts. It is out of His wonderfully glorious grace that the Lord God Almighty gave the gifts in the first place and the cheerful sacrificial response from His people in gratitude to Him was remarkable! All these things were given willingly - the possessions, the gold, the silver, the skills, the power and strength - all in service of the great God of Israel, the great Father of Abraham, Isaac, Moses and the other patriarchs. Surely, this is a God worthy of all praise, worship and life commitment! Each person praises differently and in different ways, so let's rejoice when we see other people praising God differently to our own style. 2. David - its all Him (v14-20) That's the wow factor of God: a God who is abundant in greatness, power, glory, victory and majesty. Now let's look together at David himself! All the attributes of praise, given here by David to God, could with a great deal of justification, be said about Israel, or even David himself. They were at the time a strong nation and David quite rightly still on the throne. Israel's greatest King - full of power, might and majesty. But no! What does David say in v14? "But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort? For all things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee." Its all about God for David! He would say that I am only here because of Him! David has been reflecting on his whole life - from the time he defeated the Philistine armed only with a sling and stone. He sees his past failures, the utter depravity of those but also his repentant heart before a holy God. The end of verse 14 again, "All things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee", and this resonates down through history, in churches worldwide as the offering prayer. David exhibits great humility before God, and sets an example for his son, Solomon and the other people of Israel, to follow. And then in v15 "For we are strangers before thee, and sojourners, as were all our fathers: our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is none abiding" David acknowledges that Israel were only tenants in the Promised Land - on a leasehold agreement. They were a nation of sojourners travelling a journey, from their foundation as a nation onwards. It is like David was saying to the Lord: "We are here temporarily but You, O God, are here permanently. What an amazingly generous God you are, giving with such exceeding grace to us." David confesses they are but transient and aliens in the land God had given them. It is an image tying them to their patriarchs as they wandered in the wilderness, living only on what their God provided them with, as they looked for the Promised Land. It is also an image of an acknowledgement that all life is supremely dependent upon God and God alone. God was to be their God and they were to be His people - to be shining as a light to all nations as God's representatives. Here is the mighty King David, bowing in humility before a great God whom he adores, serves and worships. He knew that his whole life had been one of dependence upon God for all things, and David was exhibiting this before his people. David's prayer was that the people of Israel would continue to depend on God but also exhibit that dependence and show how God supplied them graciously. Not only for David but also for the Chronicler too! He was recording this for the people of Israel when they were in exile. The Chronicler reminds the people in exile to be utterly dependent upon God for all and everything. For the Chronicler, the building of the Temple was more a matter of the heart, and built upon the faith of God to supply. This faith was expressed in the building made of gold, silver, wood and other metals. It was due to God's generosity alone the Temple would be built and nothing to do with David and his people. It would have been a tremendous temptation to be filled with boastful pride about it. It was a test of people's hearts to see if they really did love their God. Then in the final words of this prayer, we see David praying for unreserved and enthusiastic giving from the people. He changes from acknowledgment to petition. In verses 18-20, David exhorts an outpouring of generosity from his people, from a heart filled with thanks - a heart acknowledging total dependence on God for all things - a heart & life of loyal obedience to Almighty God. Solomon also was to be wholeheartedly obedient and devoted fully to God. A heart filled with peace with God, a life totally devoted to Him, exhibited with joyful giving. That's what David was praying for his people and for his son Solomon. Its also what the Chronicler was expecting from the people in exile as he recounts this to them. It was to be a community effort of devotion and obedience to an almighty God, on whom they were dependent for all facets of human life. Everybody giving what they could - out of riches or poverty.  3. So what? Firstly, we saw the wow factor of God: a God who exudes greatness, power, glory, victory and majesty. Then we saw David's utter adoration and dependence upon the God that he knows intimately. So, finally, what does all this have to do with us? How often do we receive from our God, but not thank Him for it? We are to be thankful for every good gift that is given to us. We offer praises and thanks to Him, for who He is and for His generosity and grace towards us. Tonight's bible passage was a superb piece of thanksgiving. When was the last time you thanked God for all the things He has given you? How can we put this thanks and praise into action? Lets see quickly! Firstly, I am convinced there are enough wealthy Christians sitting in churches in the West, who could make significant donations and virtually eradicate a lot of the poverty in the developing world and indeed their own countries. This would be active Christian giving on a radical scale. In biblical stories, such as this from 1 Chronicles 29, its always those who had the most, gave the most as an example to others of God's generosity. After all, God owns it all anyway and it's only given as a loan from God and not a transference of ownership. As Christians, we are to desire to mature spiritually - growing in adoration, obedience and commitment to God. Perhaps the greatest indicator of today, concerns our giving. Giving is to be done whole-heartedly and cheerfully. It is also not so much about how much is given, but how much is left after giving and the attitude behind it. God looks beyond that which is given to the motive and attitude behind it. All our money and possessions belong to Him anyway, as we have seen, so giving is to be in response to this. Our money and possessions are a leasehold agreement not a freehold one. Giving done willingly is also not done to boost our own egos or for the feel-good factor, but rather to bring glory and honour to God as a thankful response to His giving all things to us. Many prayers seemingly go unanswered because God is waiting on people to be obedient to Him, in order to answer the unanswered prayers of others. . We are to be generous with everything we have, not just in the area of money but with our very lives. We all have time, information, knowledge imagination, gifts and talents. All these too are to be given back to God . That may well take radical action to do, but radical giving is what we are called to do. God has given everything so that you and I may live and have life, so by caring and giving, we will reflect that. Let's be radical church together and encourage others to be likewise. But, as we have seen, it's not only about giving money and resources. Giving is also to include skills, information, imagination and knowledge. Remember, the priests and craftsmen were waiting to give in the building of and service within the Temple. Churches, particularly these days, need to capture the imagination of those looking for a church home, and get them involved. Involvement in such a way that it builds up commitment to God and a growing adoration of Him. If people are involved, they will stay. It means training them up, to be fit for service within the church. If training for service doesn't occur, then commitment and dedication to God is likely to be diminished. If the same people do the same thing year after year, that local church will eventually die out. Each local church is only one generation away from closing its doors permanently. Giving, as we saw in tonight's passage, is also a community affair. This Church is to be a community, both within the church and outside of it, where the strongest members support the weakest members - including their time, possessions, money, knowledge and wisdom. But, as we also saw tonight, it is not just for leaders to give! Giving is to be for everyone! Every church has a fantastic array of knowledge, wisdom, possessions and imagination. Let us share that with people outside the church. Who knows what our caring and giving will do for them as it reflects the glory of God! Too often, we are found turning a blind eye to the suffering of others where the necessities of life are in sparse existence. Too often we neglect to give up our personal space, time, imagination, information and money generously to help the poor and needy in our local, national and global communities. By doing this giving collectively, we will show our faith to be real and practical. There are people out there in our local community just waiting for somebody to give generously to them. We need to be seen to be radically giving to all - of our money, our possessions, and also our time, imagination, knowledge, practical help, care and love. Let us show our relevance to our local community and not be seen as just a curious gathering of people meeting on a Sunday. So if I could summarise all this up in one sentence, it would be something like this "Ask not only what your God can give to you, but what great things you can do and give to your God."   Right mouse click or tap here to download this sermon   Click or tap on the appropriate link below to subscribe, share or download our iPhone App!

Before Israel went into the wilderness, God redeemed them miraculously from slavery in Egypt. It was on the foundation of his saving work to set them free that Israel was called to build their faith. As we walk through the wilderness of waiting for God to provide a new home for our church, God is calling us to look back to his redemption for Israel and our redemption in Christ as a foundation for faith in him.1. Redemption Reveals Our Irrepressible NeedAll humans have an uncanny facility for self-deception. We lie to ourselves to avoid hard realities or to console ourselves through guilt or failure. In Exodus 14:11-12, Israel was lying to themselves about their past and present. They had a crisis of faith as they believed their eyes and not God (Heb. 11:1). But God’s redemption revealed their irrepressible need for God’s grace. James 1:2-4 teaches that God brings us through trial to build our faith, and it is by faith we are saved (Eph. 2:8-9).2. Redemption Reveals God’s Unwavering LoveIsrael wavered at the Red Sea; God did not (Exodus 14:13-14). Nothing in Israel’s circumstances could stop God redeeming them by his love (Ex. 3:7-8). As a result, Israel saw God’s salvation and believed in him (Exodus 14:31). In the midst of our wilderness as a church, God is reminding us of his great love (Romans 5:6-8; 8:31-39), and leading us to put our faith in him.

Stress comes in all different shapes and sizes, but whatever the cause, none of us was made to be under constant stress; and yet, that's how many people are living: In a constant state of stress. Well, it's time to do something about that.   A Stress Free Life? Stress. For most of us, that word sends a shiver down our spine, and why wouldn't it? Who wants to be under stress all the time? And that's what it feels like for a lot of us, so what is it? Well, it's a state of mental or emotional strain or tension, and my dictionary adds, "Resulting from adverse or demanding circumstances", although I'm not sure that's always the case. We'll explore some of the main causes of stress in this series, but first, what sort of impact is stress having on our world? Well, a recent study conducted in Australia by the Psychological Institute (and by the way, I'm sure you'd probably find the same results no matter where you live) ... Well, the study found some interesting things about the reach and impact of stress. Here are the headline findings: 12% of people reported experiencing levels of stress in the severe range, with young adults experiencing significantly higher levels of stress and significantly lower levels of wellbeing than the general population. One in three reported experiencing depressive symptoms, with ten percent of these being in the severe range. One in four reported experiencing anxiety, with nine percent of these in the severe range. Young adults, 18-25, reported significantly higher levels of anxiety and depression than the general population. Although women reported significantly higher levels of perceived stress than did men, this didn't lead to differences reported in their levels of anxiety, depression, or wellbeing. Those people experiencing family or recent relationship-breakdown and those separated reported much higher levels of stress and distress, on all measures. If the relationship-breakdown had occurred more than one year earlier, reported stress levels were about the same as the general population. In the US, things appear to be more extreme. Seventy-three percent of people regularly experience psychological symptoms caused by stress. Almost half say that stress has a negative impact on their personal or professional lives, and the cost to employers in stress-related healthcare and missed work is estimated, in the US, to be about three hundred billion dollars a year. No wonder we want a stress free life! That idyllic life by the beach is looking pretty good to a few of us at this point. Right? But that's just not realistic and in fact, the reality is that a bit of stress in our lives isn't a bad thing. We enjoy a challenge, for instance, and working under a bit of pressure sometimes produces really good results. It's like a guitar or a violin. If the strings aren't under the right amount of tension and stress, it just doesn't work the way it was meant to. I know for instance after a longish holiday, say three weeks off over Christmas, I'm really looking forward to getting back into the cut and thrust of work. If we had no pressure, no deadlines, life would be missing something; and in any case, sometimes we're hit by circumstances that put us under a lot of stress, whether we like it or not. Take Jesus. He experienced huge stress. Luke 22:39-46: He came out and went, as was His custom, to the Mount of Olives and the disciples followed Him. When He reached that place, He said to them, ‘Pray, that you may not come into a time of trial.' Then He withdrew from them, about a stone's throw away, knelt down and prayed, ‘Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me. Yet not My will, but Yours be done.' Then an angel from heaven appeared to Him and gave Him strength. In His anguish He prayed more earnestly, and His sweat became like drops of blood falling down on the ground. When He got up from prayer, He came to the disciples and found them sleeping because of grief, and He said to them, ‘Why are you sleeping? Get up and pray, that you may not come into a time of trial.' The fact that Jesus' sweat was like drops of blood tells us just how severe His suffering was. This was stress, and it only got worse from here, as He was beaten and nailed to a cross. No, that completely stress free life isn't a reality for any of us. Even the rich and famous, in fact sometimes especially those people, suffer enormous amounts of stress. How many superstars have died from drug overdoses? What were they doing there in the first place? What drove them to drugs? The pressure and the stress of fame. So, sometimes stress is desirable; sometimes it's unavoidable, and sometimes we experience it because of our reaction to a particular person or set of circumstances, and yet the Bible says don't be anxious about anything (Philippians 4:6). So what sort of stress are you under right now? Is it the normal cut and thrust of life which, at the end of the day, you kind of enjoy anyhow? Then that's probably not such a bad thing, is it? It's manageable, and you know that with a few adjustments to your life, you could easily get things right under control. Then you're probably in a good balance, but if the stresses that you're under feel like a huge burden, like a heavy load that you're carrying around twenty-four by seven ... well ... that's not such a good thing. We're not made to be under that sort of constant pressure and stress, and yet many people live their lives like that. That's why we're kicking the year off with this series called, "Stress Busters" because God has a lot of things to say about how to alleviate the stress that you're under; lots of practical, powerful things to say. Hey, why should that be a surprise to any of us? God cares so deeply about you; what you're going through; what stress you're under, and the stepping off point for that is what Jesus said. We see it in Matthew 11:28-30. Jesus said: Come to Me, all you who are weary and carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble of heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke of easy, and My burden is light. Jesus wants to lighten your load, so over these coming weeks, we're going to discover what He has to say about your stress, because Jesus didn't say this lightly. Jesus didn't say this flippantly. Jesus meant it – come to Me, all you who are weary and who are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Come on! Take My yoke upon you. Learn from Me. I'm gentle. I'm humble of heart, and with Me, you're going to find rest for your souls. Hey, that's a powerful thing, and that's why we're doing a series over these next few weeks called, "Stress Busters" because God wants to deal with the stress in your life.   Stress we Put Ourselves Under You and I have this habit of putting ourselves under pressure and stress needlessly. Don't believe me? Well, right now, we're going to chat about how we do that exactly, and what we can do about changing our habits, because there are more than enough things out there that are going to cause you and me stress, whether we like it or not. There are going to be situations and circumstances completely beyond our control that cause us stress: The loss of a loved one; a difficult boss at work; financial problems; health issues ... There are plenty of things out there that are going to come our way, whether we like it or not, that are going to cause us stress. So, why would we possibly want to needlessly cause ourselves stress? Well, right now, we're going to chat about the main three reasons that we cause ourselves stress. I'd be surprised if you don't recognise at least one of them in your life. The first one is physical. Sometimes we think of stress as an emotional thing, even a spiritual thing; and of course, it is those things, but the physical reality is that God has given you and me a body, and there are three main things that we do to abuse this amazing body that God has gifted us. We eat too much of the wrong stuff, we don't get enough sleep, and we don't get enough exercise. How many times have you heard someone (including me) banging on about our diet and exercise and sleep? And yet still the first and most obvious thing that we can get wrong when it comes to managing our stress is how we treat our body, so come on. If the hat fits, wear it. Are you sick of feeling tired? Are you sick of feeling bloated and stressed and exhausted? Then do something about it. Last year, we had a whole series on the programme called, "Healthy living to a Ripe Old Age" and all of those messages in that series are available in the Resources section of the ChristianityWorks.com website, under the heading of Health. Grab them, listen to them, read the transcripts and please, if you're struggling because you're not treating your body properly, do something about it. 1 Corinthians 6:19: For don't you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? God expects you and He expects me to look after this amazing body that He's given us, and when we do, let me tell you, our stress levels drop dramatically. The second thing that we do to put ourselves under stress needlessly is constantly second-guessing ourselves: Constantly telling ourselves, "I'm not good enough. I'm not fast enough. I'm not smart enough." You know what that's called? Low self-esteem, and it might surprise you to know that this is a trap that I too find quite easy to fall into. Shocked? Here's how it works for me. I'm something of an achiever. I drive hard at things; I work hard; I try to deliver on-time ... It's just who I am, and when you're that kind of person, you can see not only all the things that you have achieved, but all the things that you haven't yet achieved, and so you start telling yourself, "Come on! You're not working hard enough for God. You should be doing better for God. You should be getting up earlier and working longer and delivering sooner. You need to get more done. Look at all the things you haven't done yet! Oh, Berni, you're failing God." You see how easy it is to do? Or at the other end of the scale, perhaps you only ever see your inadequacies, because you're constantly comparing yourself to other people. Anyone recognise that? It's like that song by Casey Chambers. "Am I not pretty enough or smart enough or liked enough or strong enough or articulate enough or" ... so we find all these ways to put ourselves under enormous pressure, and cause ourselves huge stress by believing this nonsense that we're just not good enough. Have you been there? Then I have a word from God for you today. 1 Corinthians 12:4-7: Now there are a variety of gifts, but the same Spirit; there are a variety of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. To each one, He has given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. Did you get that? Each one of us has been given a particular set of gifts and abilities. They're all different, but they're given by the one God; and the gifts He's given you, He's given you by His sovereign will and choice. You are who you are because He made you that way. He didn't make a mistake. You're exactly who God purposed you and made you to be. Get your heart around that, and you're set free from this nonsense of, "Am I not pretty enough? Am I not good enough for God?" Hello? Is anyone listening to this? I for one need constant reminding of this stuff, because I can end up stressing out by having a wrong view of who I am. It's about trading in your self-image for a faith-image from God, and this God says that you're beautiful, and that you're just who you're meant to be. So you've been given gifts by God now to be that person, and to use those gifts. Hallelujah! And finally, the third thing that causes us needlessly to put ourselves under stress is not letting go of the past. So many people are still holding onto the failures and the hurts and the regrets of the past. How many people are living under the reproach of the past? Come on, the past is the past. You and I can't change it, and God is in the business of setting us free from it. Mark this. Before Israel was able to cross over the Jordan River and enter into the promised land, God dealt with their past. Joshua 5:9: The LORD said to Joshua, ‘Today I have rolled away from you the reproach of the past, the disgrace of Egypt.' And so that place is called Gilgal to this day. You've heard that saying, "Don't cry over spilt milk." Right? Yes, wipe it up. Yes, clean up the mess. Yes, learn from your mistakes so that you won't spill the milk again, but don't just stand there and wish you hadn't spilt the milk, and spend the rest of your life living in that one moment of failure, because you can't un-spill the milk. That just doesn't make sense. This Jesus came to set you free from the past, to bind up your broken heart, to give you a vision for the future, a new set of eyes to see, a new set of ears to hear, and a new life to live. Jesus came to lift the reproach of the past off your shoulders, so that it won't cause you any more stress. Come on. There are enough things out there for you to stress out over without your health, without these false feelings of inadequacy, and without your hurts from the past doing it all for you. Do you think?   The Stress of not Enough It seems to me that there are three basic resources that you and I need to get by each day: Time, money, and expertise; and when we're short of any of those three basic resources – time, money, or expertise, that can cause us enormous amounts of stress. Let's start by looking at time. I don't know when the term time-poor started to fall into common usage, but these days, you hear it a lot. People are time-poor. In fact, once you have enough money to cover the basics in your life, time becomes an even more valuable commodity than money, and for many people, time is way too short. ‘If only I had a few extra hours in every day!' I've heard people say. Really? The more affluent we become, the more options we have for spending our time. Take social media. Right at the moment, eleven percent of the world's population are active Facebook-users. Just think about that for a minute, and they are collectively spending seven hundred billion minutes on Facebook each month. That's 1.33 million person-years every month on Facebook, and that doesn't count watching TV and all the other entertainment options available to us. No wonder we're time-poor! So what's changed? Why have we, all of a sudden, become time-poor? ‘Cos we're trying to cram too much into our day. We're always connected. We're always working and chatting, and we've forgotten how to have disconnected, quiet down-time. If that's you, if you're burning the candle at both ends, something has to give, otherwise the stress is going to kill you. Really, and in case you're one of these workaholics, who just has to work eighteen hours a day otherwise civilisation as we know it is going to come to an end, here's a different perspective – God's perspective. Psalm 127:1-2: Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labour in vain. Unless the LORD guards the city, the guards keep watch in vain. It's in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil, for God gives sleep to His beloved. It's simply not God's plan for you to live like that, and I've recorded a whole series of messages on that called, "It's Time to Stop Labouring in Vain". You'll find it in the Resources section of our website, ChristianityWorks.com. Now the second thing that causes us stress is a lack of money. Sometimes that's because people simply don't have enough money to get by, but sometimes, it's because we squander the money that we do have on impulse buys or on things we don't need; on food that we bought, and then because of our bad management, it goes off in the fridge, so we throw it out. I want to deal with wastage first because that's criminal. With people starving in the world, wasting money on stuff that we just don't need is criminal, but the problem is that advertisers have it down to a fine art. They seem to be able to get us to part with our money like nothing else, so the question you have to ask yourself, the thing that's going to get you to change your mind, is whether the stress of this is worth it; whether having all those things makes you happy or, at the end of the day, makes you stressed. 1 Timothy 6:9-10: Those who want to be rich end up falling into temptation, and they're trapped by many senseless and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich, some have wandered away from their faith and pierced themselves with many pains. So ask yourself, "Is it really worth it for me? Really?" Or is it time to get your house in order? Is it time to get money-wise? And again, I've recorded a whole series called, "How to be Money-Wise" that you'll find in the Living in Victory section of the Resources library at ChristianityWorks.com. Sort that out, and the stress goes away. Believe you me, it's worth it. And for those who are poor, desperately poor, let me say this to you: In fact not me, but Jesus. Matthew 6:31-33: Don't worry, saying, ‘What am I going to eat?' or, ‘What am I going to drink?' or, ‘What am I going to wear?' For it's the Gentiles who strive after all these things, and indeed your heavenly Father already knows that you need them all. But strive first for the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. God knows what you need, and He will provide it for you. So, Proverbs 3:5-6: Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. But in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make straight your paths. Your God will surely provide for you, and once you learn to trust Him to do the things you can't do and provide the things that you need that you can't acquire for yourself, the stress will be replaced by the most amazing peace and assurance. Finally, the other thing that causes us stress when we're without it is expertise. When I look at the ministry of ChristianityWorks that produces these radio-programmes, ok, I'm the front guy; you hear my voice, but without Max on the opposite side of the glass here in the studio and our dedicated team around the world, there simply wouldn't be any radio-programmes. One of the biggest things that you and I can do to cause ourselves stress is not to value and recognise the different abilities and capabilities of the people around us because when we don't cherish them, they desert us. I see this all the time: Leaders who think everybody should be exactly like them, so they drive their people hard and all of a sudden, there's no one left to lead. A true leader recognises other people's gifts and abilities. A true leader encourages and empowers people to be all that they can be, and whether we're leaders or not, we need other people around us who will co-operate in getting things done; because without them, we are going to be under stress with a capital S; because without them, we have to do the things that they're good at, and those things are invariably stuff that we're not good at. There's something incredibly stressful about being a square peg in a round hole. If I had to do Max's job here in the studio, I couldn't do it, and I've tried to get Max on the other side of the glass in front of the microphone, and he's not real keen on that either; because that's not his gig, just as much as what he does is not my gig. It's easy to be stressed by not having enough: Enough time, enough money, or enough expertise. But when we lean on God – hey; when we really trust in Him (come on, really), the stress starts to go away because what we discover is that God provides richly for those whom He loves. He just does. So if you're struggling under the stress of not enough, listen again, please, to this passage from Proverbs 3:5-6: Trust in the LORD with all your heart. Do not lean on your own understanding. In other words, don't look at the problem and keep turning the problem over in your mind, and just seeing the problem which then appears to be bigger than God. Instead, trust in the LORD with all your heart! Don't lean on your own understanding. And in all your ways acknowledge Him, and God will straighten out your paths. God will make it happen. God loves you. Do you get that? God absolutely loves you, and often we are going to be confronted with things that are much bigger than us. Pressure is different from stress. Pressure is out there; stress is our reaction to it, and God doesn't want you stressing out.

Before Israel was officially a state, it was a nation under threat from its Arab neighbors.  Matti Friedman’s new book, Spies of No Country tells the story of 4 future Israelis, Arabic-speakers who grew up in Arab environments as spies behind enemy lines in Lebanon.  Their story points to the future intelligence service Mossad and the future of Israel in which Mizrahis, Jews from the East play crucial roles.  Life, love and a mission to blow up a yacht built for Adolf Hitler.  The story, in depth on HERE & THERE

cd19.08.11 Aug. 11, 2019 SCRIPTURE READING “(1) I say then, has God cast away His people? Certainly not! For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. (2) God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew. Or do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel, saying, (3) ‘LORD, they have killed Your prophets and torn down Your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life?’ (4) But what does the divine response says to him? ‘I have reserved for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.’ (5) Even so then, at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace. (6) And if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace; otherwise work is no longer work. (7) What then? Israel has not obtained what is seeks; but the elect have obtained it, and the rest were blinded. (8) Just as it is written: ‘God has given them a spirit of stupor, eyes that they should not see and ears that they should not hear, to this very day.’ (9) And David says: ‘Let their table become a snare and a trap, a stumbling block and a recompense to them. (10) Let their eyes be darkened, so that they do not see, and bow down their back always.” Rom.11:1-10 (NKJV) “I say then, has God cast away His people? Certainly not!” Rom.11:1a • God made an unconditional covenant (promise) with Abraham! • God always keeps His promises! THAT ISRAEL HAS A FUTURE IS PROVEN AND EXPLAINED BY: 1. Paul’s personal TESTIMONY! “I say then, has God cast away His people? Certainly not! For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.” Rom.11:1 • A question that begs a negative answer! • No, in the strongest possible terms! • I am an Israelite! (whom God has saved, with great patience) “However, for this reason I obtained mercy that in me first Jesus Christ might show all longsuffering, as a pattern to those who are going to believe on Him for everlasting life.” 1Tim.1:16 “(3) As he journeyed he came near Damascus, and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven. (4) Then he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?’ (5) And he said, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ Then the Lord said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goads.” Acts 9:3-5 • Of the seed of Abraham, a Jew by birth (not a proselyte)! • Of the tribe of Benjamin, one of the most favored tribes! 2. the testimony of God’s REMNANT! “(2) God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew. Or do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel, saying, (3) ‘LORD, they have killed Your prophets and torn down Your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life?’ (4) But what does the divine response say to him? ‘I have reserved for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.’ (5) Even so then, at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace. (6) And if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace; otherwise work is no longer work.” Rom.11:2-6 • Foreknew: (proginos’ko) means not just awareness of what will happen, but a determination is made that it will happen! “(28) Concerning the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but concerning the election they are beloved for the sake of the fathers. (29) For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.” Rom.11:28-29 _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 3. the testimony of GOD’S JUDICIAL HARDENING! “(7) What then? Israel has not obtained what it seeks; but the elect have obtained it, and the rest were blinded. (8) Just as it is written: ‘God has given them a spirit of stupor, eyes that they should not see and ears that they should not hear, to this very day.’ (9) And David says: ‘Let their table become a snare and a trap, a stumbling block and a recompense to them. (10) Let their eyes be darkened, so that they do not see, and bow down their back always.’” Rom.11:7-10 _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ SO WHAT? 1. God never totally casts His people away, although it may seem that way! “I say then, has God cast away His people? Certainly not! Rom.11:1 “(7) When my soul fainted within me, I remembered the LORD; and my prayer went up to You, into Your holy temple…(9) But I will sacrifice to You with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay what I have vowed. Salvation is of the LORD. (10) So the LORD spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.” Jonah 2:7, 9-10 “God is a good surgeon. He won’t stop until He accomplishes whatever He has determined to accomplish.” C. S. Lewis 2. Paul’s conversion (as part of the remnant) is an encouragement and a pattern for all of us who have or will trust in Christ! “However, for this reason I obtained mercy that in me first Jesus Christ might show all longsuffering, as a pattern to those who are going to believe on Him for everlasting life.” 1Tim.1:16 • A pattern of mercy (I sure did not deserve it)! • A pattern of longsuffering (He sure put up with a lot, 1Tim.1:15)! • A pattern to influence and give hope to others like myself! • A pattern of usefulness, for those who have been forgiven much love much! • A pattern of dramatic salvation for Israel! 3. All Israel will be saved, like Paul, in dramatic fashion! “(1) Behold, the day of the LORD is coming, and your spoil will be divided in your midst. (2) For I will gather all the nations to battle against Jerusalem; the city shall be taken, the houses rifled, and the women ravished. Half of the city shall go into captivity. But the remnant of the people shall not be cut off from the city. (3) Then the LORD will go forth and fight against those nations, as He fights in the day of battle. (4) And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which faces Jerusalem on the east. And the Mount of Olives shall be split in two, from east to west, making a very large valley…(5) Then you shall flee through My mountain valley..” Zech.14:1-5 4. Today if you hear God’s voice, don’t harden your heart! “(7) Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: ‘Today, if you will hear His voice, (8) do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, in the day of trial in the wilderness.” Heb.3:7-8 SMALL GROUP DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: • The theme of this message is God is not done with the nation of Israel and its implications for Christian living. 1. Paul said in Rom.11:1a: “I say then, has God cast away His people? Certainly not!” Have I ever felt like God had cast me away? How did I respond? So what? 2. Read (Rom.11:1-10). God would never totally cast away Israel, even though they rejected their Messiah, because He made a covenant with Abraham (Gen.12:1-3) and God always keeps His promises? Have I found this to be true in my experience (that God is faithful to His promises)? So what? 3. Paul used his own testimony of God’s faithfulness, the testimony of God’s sovereignty in saving a remnant, and the testimony of God’s judicial hardening to explain God’s dealings with Israel. Paul said his conversion was a pattern for those who were going to believe (see Acts 9:1-19). In what ways is his conversion a pattern of my own experience? In what ways is his conversion not a pattern of my experience? In what ways is his conversion a pattern for how the nation of Israel will one day be saved (see Zech.12:10; 13:8-9; 14:1-5, 12-15)? So what? 4. Have I ever hardened my heart to the Lord’s will? What did God do to get a hard hearted prophet’s attention (see Jonah 2:1-10)? Have I ever had any whales in my life? So what? 5. Radio Pastor Steve Brown said: “The church is not a place for people who are together, obedient, and spiritual. If you really think it is, then you were conned. The church is actually a place for people who are needy, afraid, confused, and quite sinful. But even more important than that, the church is a place for people who have been loved…and have no idea why? Each congregation is, as it were, a local chapter of ‘sinners anonymous.’ Do I agree? So what? Daily Bible Reading Mon (Rom.11:1—10) God has not cast off Israel completely Tue (Rom.11:26-27) God will save the nation of Israel at second coming Wed (Zech.12:10) Israel will mourn over the One they pierced Thu (Zech.13:8-9) Before Israel is saved, two thirds will be killed Fri (Zech.14:1-9) The remaining one third will be saved dramatically Sat (Prov.4:23) The thing Israel failed to do

Before Israel leaves Sinai we see a flashback to the book of Exodus. Sacrifices are made, the Levites are consecrated, and the Passover is celebrated. Why this flashback? Why repeat the Exodus story here? How does all of this point us to Jesus? For more information about Spoken Gospel visit: http://www.spokengospel.com Welcome to Spoken Gospel. This is our journey to speak the gospel out of every corner of scripture. Each week author and poet David Bowden sits down with preacher and blogger Seth Stewart to address one pericope of scripture and show how it points to Jesus. We believe that the whole Bible is about Jesus. In fact, everything is about Jesus. “From him, through him, and to him are all things” (Rom. 11:36). “For by him all things were created…all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together” (Col. 1:16-17). Since everything in the world is about Jesus, certainly the Bible, which is his word, is about him too. “And Jesus 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” (Lk. 24:25-27) “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me” (Jn. 5:39) In fact, we are convinced that reading the Bible without seeing how it points us to Jesus is to read the Bible with a veil over it. “For to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away. Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts. But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed” (2 Cor. 3:14-16). This text goes on to say that it is the Gospel that is veiled. But when the veil is taken away by the Spirit, and we see the Gospel throughout the Bible, we don’t just get new information or discover clever connections. We actually see, “the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God” (2 Cor. 4:4). Seeing Jesus and his Gospel throughout the whole Bible is not about trying to see something that isn’t really there, but trusting the Spirit of God to show us what is really there. And what is really there is the image and glory of God in Jesus. This isn’t about seeing beyond the text or through the text. It isn’t about overlooking the historical events or the author’s intent, to see something mystical and secret. It is about seeing how God operated in historical events, through authorial intent, in the texts of scripture to show us more of his glory in Jesus. That is our goal in this podcast. We will work through books of the Bible in segments. Usually these segments will be broken up by the text itself, pausing for reflection where the literature seems to tell us to stop and take account. Our hope is to make it through the whole Bible, speaking the Gospel out of every corner of Scripture. Welcome to our public experiment to test this thesis. Welcome to Spoken Gospel.

Often what stops us from moving in to the fullness of life God has promised is not external obstacles but internal ones. Before Israel could enter the promised land God had to remove the reproach of their past. Once removed, they were free to live in the promises of God.

God elevates the importance of memory. Before Israel crossed into the Promised Land, Moses gave a fine speech in Deuteronomy 8 emphasizing one word, "Remember". What he tells Israel to remember the church needs to remember today. How is your memory?

A victorious, conquering life is the longing of every human heart. We all want to overcome the enemies of life, enemies that seek to defeat and destroy us, enemies such as destructive passions, hostility, drug addiction, disease, divorce, financial difficulties, abuse, alcoholism, mental or emotional problems, unemployment, the loss of a loved one, or greed. No matter what the challenge is, whether a person or a trial, each of us longs for the strength to drive away the force that seeks to defeat us. In the book of Judges, the children of Israel lived in the constant dread of their enemies. Moses and Joshua were dead, Israel was left to drive out their remaining enemies. As long as the enemies remained, Israel would have no peace. Before Israel could fully enjoy the promised land, the people had to drive out the enemies. Because God shows mercy to repentant sinners, we can have victory. This Sunday we will see how we can drive out our enemies and live a life of victory in Jesus. The title of the message is "Knowing a Merciful God."

Before Israel enters the Promised Land, God reminds them of His grace in the Exodus from Egypt and the journey into the land. Because of His great love for His people, His bride, He lavishes gifts upon them. Though they receive everything they need, they forget His mercy. They presume their prosperity is due to their power instead of Gods' gift.

Before Israel enters the Promised Land, God reminds them of His grace in the Exodus from Egypt and the journey into the land. Because of His great love for His people, His bride, He lavishes gifts upon them. Though they receive everything they need, they forget His mercy. They presume their prosperity is due to their power instead of Gods' gift.

Before Israel could begin to occupy the Promised Land, the Lord wanted some final acts of disciplined obedience to prove their trust in Him. So He established an unorthdox method for conquering Jericho--one that required every person to be involved and fully invested. By keeping the Lord in the center of all they were doing, and staying focused in their commitment, Israel would experience the spectacular victory only He could provide. This study calls us to the same faith and obedience, which will give us success as we "take new ground" in our lives.

Rich Toward God series. Deuteronomy 24:19-22. Before Israel had land of its own, God commanded them to set aside margin to be generous with. Your overflow is someone else's necessity.

Andy Davis preaches an expository sermon on Genesis 22 on how God offers sacrificial provision for his people. - SERMON TRANSCRIPT - Introduction We are looking for a fifth and final time this morning at Genesis 22. The first two sermons focused, on the human side, on Abraham and what it was like for him to offer his son Isaac in faith as a burnt offering. The next two focused on fourteen type prophecies that are fulfilled in the sacrifice in Genesis 22. Today we will look at one more type prophecy, specifically the place of the offering, and trace it across Scripture to see how “on the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.” Thanksgiving is one of my favorite celebrations of the year. In December of 1620, the pilgrims came to cold Cape Cod. When they landed after a difficult voyage, they immediately got on their knees and gave thanks for God’s good provision in getting them there safely. They saw everything as coming to them from the hand of God. They were always looking for providence, for provision. But it was a very difficult experience. The harshness of the following winter almost destroyed their colony. Sickness ravaged them that winter. By the beginning of spring in 1621, half of their 102 members had perished. Of the 17 male heads of families, 10 died during the first infection. Of the 17 wives, only three were left after three months. Governor William Bradford wrote that the living were scarce able to bury the dead. At any given point, only six or seven people were healthy enough to do all the work of caring for the others, fetching firewood, cooking, washing “loathsome clothes” by hand. These heroes, he said, did “all the homely and necessary offices for [the sick] which dainty and queasy stomachs cannot endure to hear named, and all this willingly and cheerfully, without grudging in the least.” Can you imagine the difficulties of making it through that first winter. The turning point for the colony began one Thursday, in the middle of March 1621, when they met an Indian named Tisquantum, also known as Squanto. Squanto was, they believed, a special instrument of God for their good beyond their expectation. He had found his reason for living: these English were helpless in the ways of the wilderness and would not have survived without him. Squanto taught them how to catch eels — apparently they were very sweet for those who liked that kind of thing — how to stalk deer, how to plant pumpkins, how to refine maple syrup, how to discern both edible herbs and those that are good for medicine. Perhaps the most important thing he did was teach them the native way of planting corn. They would put five kernels in a small shallow pit with three fish in a star-like pattern with the heads pointing in toward the kernels. They needed to guard the fields all the time, 24 hours a day, from the wolves who would try to dig up the fish. As a result, they ended up with 20 full acres of corn, which saved their lives the next winter. Squanto also taught them how to exploit the pelts of the beaver, which was in plentiful supply and in great demand throughout Europe. He taught them not only how to hunt them and prepare them, but also what were the best prices and how not to get taken for a ride by the traders. The pilgrims rightly ascribed their health and their prosperity at the human level to Squanto, but ultimately as Bible-believing Christians, they ascribed it to Providence. They believed in the providence of God. They believed that the Bible teaches that God rules over all things, and that everything we have comes from his hand. They were not getting together at Thanksgiving to thank the native Americans. Though they were no doubt grateful, they were there to thank God because they believed in the doctrine of Providence. "On the mountain of the Lord, there has been full provision for sin." As great as was the providence of God to them that first year and through the second winter, how much greater was the providence of God at Mount Moriah for them? On the mountain of the Lord, it has been provided. I get the joyful news of proclaiming that today. What better thing can there be than that? On the mountain of the Lord, there has been full provision for sin. Today’s sermon is a story of providence, a story that those first pilgrims would have enjoyed hearing, a story of God’s full provision for sin. I. Abraham’s Walk by Faith Original Call from Ur The story begins with Abraham’s walk by faith, in which he was told, in effect, “Go to the land I will show you.” The whole thing began for Abraham in Genesis 12:1: “The LORD had said to Abram, "Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you.” It says in Hebrews 11:8, “By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.” So it was also in this case. God called Abraham to go to a place he would show him, to follow by faith. God’s Command Genesis 22:1-2 says, “Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, ‘Abraham!’ ‘Here I am,’ he replied. Then God said, ‘Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.’” The general region was chosen and selected by God, designated by him, but God also had a specific mountain that he had picked out, and it would be on that mountain that Isaac was to be sacrificed. The Place Is Prominent In the account, the place is prominent and very important. It is mentioned eight times in this account. Verse 2: “…go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.” Verse 3, after preparations were made: “…he set out for the place that God had told him about.” Verse 4:“On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance.” Verse 5: “He said to his servants, "Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there.” After the conversation about who will provide the lamb, in verses 8-9: “Abraham answered, ‘God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.’ And the two of them went on together. When they reached the place God had told him about…” Verse 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.’” This is a striking and intense focus on this place. Scripture also indicates that God communicated to Abraham about the place as he went along: “…go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.” Evidently God revealed some things to Abraham so that when he reached the foot of the mountain, he knew that that was the place, because God had told him. The sacred mountain was named the Mountain of the Lord, given before the encounter. But by the end, Abraham gave it a more complete name: Jehovah Jireh, the Lord will provide. II. The Key Lesson Question and Reply The whole Old Testament can be summed up in a central question, found in verse 7: “Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, … ‘The fire and wood are here,’ Isaac said, ‘but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?’” Animal sacrifice was nothing more than a symbol. While waiting for fulfillment, the Old Testament question was always, “Where is the lamb for the sacrifice?” The central New Testament answer was given by John the Baptist: “Behold the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world.” This is the provision that is provided on the mountain of the Lord. Isaac asked the question, where is the lamb? Verse 8 (NIV) says, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.’” The NIV is the only version that translates it that way literally in the Hebrew. The ESV translates well: “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” There is a subtle difference. In effect, only God can atone or provide an atonement himself. He is the only one who can turn his own wrath away. No other created being could come up with an offering that could do it. God must, to use the technical theological term, propitiate himself. He must turn his own wrath away, and that is exactly what Abraham says: “God will provide for himself the lamb; no human offering can do it.” The Meaning of the Word “Provide” Let's look at this word provide. It says “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.” The simple meaning in English of the word “provide” is to make something available to meet a need. For example, the host provided his guests with water and towels so they could wash for the meal. In other words, he provided or gave them what they needed to meet the need. But the literal English meaning of the word provide comes from the Latin means pro — “before” — and videre — “to see”; to see ahead of time. The host, knowing, or seeing, that his guests would need to wash up after their difficult journey, provided water and towels. The literal Hebrew verb in this verse means “God will see for himself the lamb for the burnt offering.” How? God’s vision transcends his history. He sees the end from the beginning. This message will make no sense if God has no accurate and perfect foreknowledge of the future, but he does. It is not an accident that God’s provisions at Mount Moriah — the ram in the thicket, Solomon’s temple, and Christ’s cross and empty tomb — line up. God had chosen a place; he had seen the place ahead of time, before the foundation of the world. God was seeing Christ before Abraham and Isaac began their journey to Moriah. God was seeing Christ before Abraham and Isaac were born. God was seeing Christ before the world began. From eternity past, God saw the Lamb of God slain from the foundation of the world. God will see the lamb for himself, my son. Behold the lamb. III. The First Provision The first provision at Mount Moriah was the ram in the thicket caught by its horns. It was provided by God. It would not do it all to send Abraham home with no sacrifice having been offered. That would have sent the wrong message. The right message is “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” Isaac was a sinner. He needed a substitute. The right message is also, “The wages of sin is death” If Isaac won't die, something must die; there must be a substitute. The ram in the thicket was God’s provision for that. In order for a sinner to approach the thrice Holy God, there must be a blood penalty paid, as Hebrews 9:22 says: “... without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.” Either Isaac would die for his own sins or there would be some substitute, some provision. The ram in the thicket is clearly a substitute for Isaac. Genesis 22:13 says, “Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son.” The ram took the place of the son. The Key Lesson: “On the Mountain of the Lord It Will Be Provided” Verse 14 gives the key lesson: “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.’” Abraham’s name for the sacred place was Jehovah Jireh, which could be read, “The Lord will see to it.” He will see what needs to be done and he will provide. This was the proverb. What was to be provided on the mountain of the Lord? A substitute for sins. IV. The Second Provision Holy Ground The second provision happened in the unfolding of redemptive history. Abraham’s descendants were enslaved in a country not their own for 400 years. Just as God had told Abraham it would happen, so it happened in Genesis 15. In Abraham’s time, there was a pattern of holy ground. Abraham built altars as he would pilgrim through the promised land. Genesis 13:18 says, “So Abram moved his tents and went to live near the great trees of Mamre at Hebron, where he built an altar to the LORD.” That is holy ground, where he would set up an altar and go regularly to worship. We see the same with Jacob when he made his journey to find his wife. As he was traveling, he stopped for the night and had a dream. In the dream, he saw a staircase extending from earth to Heaven, and from Heaven to earth, with angels ascending and descending on it. Genesis 28:16-17 says, “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.’” He set up a pillar and poured oil on it. It was a commemoration that it was a holy place. Again, on Mount Sinai in the account of the burning bush, the angel of the Lord said to Moses in Exodus 3:5: “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” The Long Journey of God After God brought his people out of Egypt, took them through the Red Sea, and destroyed Pharaoh and his army, He led them to Sinai and gave them the law, including provision for worship. One of the provisions for worship was the tabernacle. A tabernacle is a tent. A tent is portable. In the tent, God ordained the Most Holy Place, or the Holy of Holies, which was to contain the golden Ark of the Covenant. On the top of the Ark were cherubim. There the blood of the sacrifice was be poured. Above the Ark, God said, he would meet with the people on the basis of the blood that was poured out. So because the tabernacle moved, God was taking the journey (much longer than if they had simply obeyed in the first place) through the wilderness with his people. The pillars of cloud and fire also indicated that God was moving from place to place. As he went, he spoke to the people through Moses. The One Place of Worship In Deuteronomy, God said the traveling would stop when they entered the Promised Land, and there they would worship at the place where God would choose. Deuteronomy 12:4-6 says, “You must not worship the LORD your God in their way. But you are to seek the place the LORD your God will choose from among all your tribes to put his Name there for his dwelling. To that place you must go; there bring your burnt offerings and sacrifices, your tithes and special gifts, what you have vowed to give and your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks.” Throughout the book of Deuteronomy, this is a major theme. God commanded that three times a year, all of the Israelite males were to appear at that one place that God would choose from among the tribes, and there they would offer their sacrifices. In the time of Joshua, they conquered the land. In time, God selected the place, which was Jerusalem, the city of David. Jerusalem was a city of the Jebusite people, and it was tough to conquer. It was a citadel, a mountain fortress. The Jebusites mocked, “Even the lame and blind could defend against David,” but David was able to take it. He took the fortress, the City of Zion, and made it his own, his capital. David’s Heart Once David was established there, he built a beautiful, aromatic palace of cedar, but his heart was to build a house for the Lord. In 2 Samuel 7:2, “…he said to Nathan the prophet, ‘Here I am, living in a palace of cedar, while the ark of God remains in a tent.’” He did not think that was right. He wanted to bring the Lord to Jerusalem, and he wanted to build a house, a permanent dwelling place, for the Lord, a resting place where the people of God could come with their offerings. Nathan, the prophet, initially says in 2 Samuel 7:3, “Whatever you have in mind, go ahead and do it, for the LORD is with you.” But God had different plans and spoke through Nathan again shortly thereafter. God told Nathan to tell David that he would not be the one to build a house for him. God had not asked for a palace of cedar. Instead, God would raise up David’s son, and he would be the one to build a house for God. There is a double meaning — the immediate fulfillment was Solomon, David’s biological son, who literally built the temple, a physical structure, the house of the Lord; but it is Jesus, the ultimate son of David, who builds the eternal house. And we are his house. Hebrews says, “We, believers are like living stones. And he is building his house and he has been building it for all this time.” God told David it would be his son who would build it. The question is, where should it be built? David’s Sin Eventually, David sinned greatly against the Lord. He decided to conduct a sinful census to number the fighting men, to find out how much military strength he had. “Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.” [Psalm 20:7] David was not trusting that at that moment. It does not say directly why it was sinful, but it was, and Joab knew it was sinful. But David overruled Joab, his commander, and ordered him to count them. So Joab counted the military men. Then God was greatly displeased with David. God was determined to punish David for the sinful census. He gave him one of three options — three years of famine, three months of fleeing from before your enemies, or three days of the sword of the Lord, a plague, with the angel of the Lord ravaging every part of Israel. David was in anguish — because of his sin other people would die — but he chose the third option. He said, “Let us fall into the hands of the Lord, for his mercy is great.” 70,000 people died because of David’s sin. As heads of houses, pastors, leaders of countries, we must keep in mind that we may not directly suffers for our sin. Sometimes the punishment gets poured out on those we are responsible for. 1 Chronicles 21:15-18, 21:26-22:1 tells of the end of that plague: “And God sent an angel to destroy Jerusalem. But as the angel was doing so, the LORD saw it and was grieved because of the calamity and said to the angel who was destroying the people, ‘Enough! Withdraw your hand.’ The angel of the LORD was then standing at the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. David looked up and saw the angel of the LORD standing between heaven and earth, with a drawn sword in his hand extended over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell facedown. David said to God, ‘Was it not I who ordered the fighting men to be counted? I am the one who has sinned and done wrong. These are but sheep. What have they done? O LORD my God, let your hand fall upon me and my family, but do not let this plague remain on your people.’ Then the angel of the LORD ordered Gad to tell David to go up and build an altar to the LORD on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. ... David built an altar to the LORD there and sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. He called on the LORD, and the LORD answered him with fire from heaven on the altar of burnt offering. Then the LORD spoke to the angel, and he put his sword back into its sheath. At that time, when David saw that the LORD had answered him on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite, he offered sacrifices there. The tabernacle of the LORD, which Moses had made in the desert, and the altar of burnt offering were at that time on the high place at Gibeon. But David could not go before it to inquire of God, because he was afraid of the sword of the angel of the LORD. Then David said, ‘The house of the LORD God is to be here, and also the altar of burnt offering for Israel.’” The temple was to be built on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite, where God had answered him with fire from heaven, and the plague had ended. Where was the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite? 2 Chronicles 3:1 says, “Then Solomon began to build the temple of the LORD in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah…” This is why I am an inerrantist. I can base a whole sermon on one verse, 2 Chronicles 3:1. In one verse, it says that the temple was built on Mount Moriah on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. That was the location of the temple, God’s second provision on the mountain of the Lord. What was provided? A semi-permanent dwelling place for the house of God, where lasting animal sacrifices could be offered, including the passover sacrifice. In the sanctuary, this magnificent temple of Solomon, the Holy of Holies was built out of gold. 2 Chronicles 3:8-9 says, “He built the Most Holy Place, its length corresponding to the width of the temple — twenty cubits long and twenty cubits wide. He overlaid the inside with six hundred talents {That is, about 23 tons (about 21 metric tons)} of fine gold. The gold nails weighed fifty shekels. He also overlaid the upper parts with gold.” The Holy of Holies of Solomon’s temple was built with golden nails, but that was not the true holy of holies. God had ordained that the physical temple would be destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar, king of the Babylonians. The true holy of holies was built with iron nails, Roman nails, because of Christ’s body and the blood he shed there. That is the true Holy of Holies. That is the true sacrifice. Solomon’s Prayer Solomon prayed the prayer of dedication concerning the temple and the Holy of Holies. In 2 Chronicles 6:41-7:2, he said, “Now arise, O LORD God, and come to your resting place, you and the ark of your might.” This was symbolic: God was going to come rest, so the glory cloud of God filled the temple that day, — a visible representation of the presence of God. God had stopped his journey and come into his resting place symbolically. God’s Lasting But Temporary Provision This was God’s lasting but temporary provision at Mount Moriah. There on Mount Moriah, God came to dwell in symbolic form, and there the Jews were to arrange themselves three times a year to offer their burn offerings. There on Mount Moriah, on the mountain of the Lord, God provided animal sacrifice, a temporary and symbolic provision. At Solomon’s temple on Mount Moriah, the mountain of the Lord, day after day, the priest stood and performed their ministry; day after day, they offered animal sacrifice. Leviticus 17:11 says, “For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life.” However, Hebrews 10:3-4 says, “…those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins, because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.” Bulls and goats do not equal the value of a human being, and so therefore their blood is no permanent and final provision for sin. And so Isaac’s question still stands. Where is the lamb? Year after year, these priests offered their sacrifices, and it was just an annual reminder of wickedness and sinfulness. Where is the lamb? V. The Final Provision Christ’s Purpose The Lord’s final provision of Mount Moriah was the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world — Jesus, his own Son. Christ came into the world to die. That was not his only purpose, but it was his central purpose. He came to atone for sin. Hebrews 10:5-7 says, “…when Christ came into the world, he said: ‘Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me; with burnt offerings and sin offerings you were not pleased. Then I said, “Here I am — it is written about me in the scroll — I have come to do your will, O God.”’” God provided a human body for Jesus — the incarnation — which He lay down as an atoning sacrifice. His blood was necessary for the forgiveness of our sins. "The Lord’s final provision of Mount Moriah was the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world — Jesus, his own Son." What was the will of God for Christ’s body? John 10:17-18 says, “The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life — only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.” Jesus was saying he had the power to die whenever he chose, and the power to live again whenever he chose he had a command from the Father to lay down his life. And so he would. Matthew 20:28 says, “…the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” God’s Chosen Place Was the place of Jesus's sacrifice also determined and written? Mark 10:32-34 says, “They were on their way up to Jerusalem, with Jesus leading the way, and the disciples were astonished, while those who followed were afraid. Again he took the Twelve aside and told them what was going to happen to him. ‘We are going up to Jerusalem,’ he said, ‘and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles, who will mock him and spit on him, flog him and kill him. Three days later he will rise.’” Jesus had to die in Jerusalem. Luke 9:51 says, “As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem.” That was the finish line of his earthly physical ministry, to die in Jerusalem. The time of Jesus’ death was set by prophecy — he would die at the time of the sacrifice of the Passover Lamb, since he was the passover lamb. The circumstances of his death were set by prophecy — he would die having been betrayed by a close friend for 30 pieces of silver and rejected by his own people. The manner of his death was set by prophecy — he would be pierced for our transgressions and lifted up like a bronze serpent, like Moses lifted up the bronze serpent on the stake. Do you think that God ordained the time, circumstances and manner of Christ’s death but left out the place? No. Jesus would die on Mount Moriah. Genesis 22:14 says, “to this day it is said, ‘On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided.’” Where was Christ sacrificed? He was sacrificed at Golgotha. The word Golgotha simply means “the place of the skull,” (Matthew 27:33), but Golgotha was still in Jerusalem proper. It was still on Mount Moriah. Revelation 11:8 says, “[The two witnesses’] bodies will lie in the street of the great city, which is figuratively called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified.” Jesus was crucified in Jerusalem. Speaking of the sign written in three languages that Pilate had put on the cross that said, “Jesus of Nazareth, the king of the Jews,” John 19:20 says, “…the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city…” Hebrews 13:12 says, “Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood.” Mount Moriah is a complex of mountains, like a ridge, so Jerusalem, the city is built on one section of it, but just outside the gate is where Jesus was crucified. The Roman soldiers would not have made a man who was to be crucified walk 10 or 15 miles. They would bring him just outside the city gate and crucify him as a warning to the people in the city. All of these signs point to God’s eternal provision. Jesus Christ was sacrificed for our sins. Why does God do so much precision of time and manner and mode and place? So that you may be saved. So that people to the ends of the Earth can hear the story and marvel at the complexity of the threads that are woven together in this Gospel. It is beyond human ken. We cannot put something like this together. The quality is too high. Jesus did many miracles, not just one. And Jesus fulfilled many prophecies, not just one. All Signs Point to God’s Eternal Provision: Jesus Christ, Sacrificed for Our Sins Genesis 22:14 says, “…to this day it is said, ‘On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided.’” The greatest joy of my life is to tell you that on the mountain of the Lord, it has been provided. Jesus said “It is finished.” A full provision of sin was made when Jesus shed his blood, but that is not all — God did not leave Jesus dead on Mount Moriah. We still have some work to do — he must be raised from the dead. On the mountain of the Lord, a full provision must be made. VI. The Rich Banquet Isaiah’s Second Prophecy of the Mountain These verses in Isaiah are so important to what I am presenting that they are printed in your bulletin. Isaiah 25:6-9 is the second significant prophecy concerning the mountain of the Lord. There are many more than that, but we will focus on the second one first: “On this mountain the LORD Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples, a banquet of aged wine — the best of meats and the finest of wines. On this mountain he will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations; he will swallow up death forever. The Sovereign LORD will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove the disgrace of his people from all the earth. The LORD has spoken. In that day they will say, ‘Surely this is our God; we trusted in him, and he saved us. This is the LORD, we trusted in him; let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation.’” Twice it says, “On this mountain.” On what mountain? In context, it can be none other than the mountain of the Lord’s temple, using Isaiah’s language — it is Jerusalem, God’s holy hill, Mount Zion. What will happen on this mountain? The Lord Almighty will spread a feast of rich food for all his people, with the highest quality food and drink. Isaiah was a visionary prophet. If you close your eyes and listen, you see images, but his images are spiritual. There is always a physical side to them, but he was using spiritual language — physical language to talk about a spiritual feast. What is this rich feast, this banquet that he will spread? It is none other than the destruction of death. He will destroy the shroud that covers all nations, the sheet that enfolds all peoples. He will swallow up death forever. Where will he do it? On this mountain, Mount Moriah, Jesus Christ destroyed death forever by his crucifixion, but if he had not been raised from the dead on the third day, we could not say that death was destroyed. We need a resurrection. On this mountain also Jesus destroyed death forever by his resurrection. Where was Jesus buried? On Mount Moriah. John 19:41-42 says, “At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid. Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.” Right there on Mount Moriah, he was buried, and therefore Isaiah 25:7-8 was fulfilled, because on that mountain, Jesus destroyed death forever by his resurrection from the dead. Isaiah’s First and Last Prophecies of the Mountain The first mention in Isaiah of the mountain of the Lord’s temple is in Isaiah 2. Here is where it gets final and complete, and the Gospel extends. Mount Everest is the highest mountain in the world, Mount Blanc the highest mountain in Europe, Mount McKinley the highest in North America. There are many mountains that are taller than Mount Moriah, but Mount Moriah is the chief among the mountains on earth. Isaiah 2:1-3 says, “This is what Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem: In the last days the mountain of the LORD’s temple will be established as chief among the mountains; it will be raised above the hills, and all nations will stream to it. Many peoples will come and say, ‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths.’ The law will go out from Zion, the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.” What does Isaiah see concerning Judah and Jerusalem? At a certain point, the mountain of the Lord’s temple will be established and all nations — the Gentiles — will go streaming to it. You may wonder why, then, isn’t there a pilgrimage like there is to Mecca? Jesus covered that in John 4: “Woman, believe me, a time is coming when you worship the Father, neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” We do need to make a physical pilgrimage to Jerusalem, to Mount Moriah, because God is spirit. Because Jesus physically died and was raised from the dead, we can worship him right here in Durham, North Carolina. Amen. We do not need to physically go to any mountain, but still there is a streaming of the nations. People go there spiritually in their hearts and minds, understanding that the most important thing that has ever happened to them happened 2000 years before they were born. 2000 years before we were born, Jesus died on the cross. In my heart, I am at Mount Moriah, where it was provided for me. It is my only hope on the mountain, the Lord has provided for me, a sinner. The final mention in Isaiah of the mountain, the Lord’s temple, is in Isaiah 66:19-20: “I will set a sign among them. And from them I will send survivors to the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, who draw the bow, to Tubal and Javan, to the coastlands afar off, that have not heard my fame or seen my glory. And they shall declare my glory among the nations. And they shall bring all your brothers from all the nations as an offering to the LORD, on horses and in chariots and in litters and on mules and on dromedaries, to my holy mountain Jerusalem, says the LORD, just as the Israelites bring their grain offering in a clean vessel to the house of the LORD.” They are all moving. Where are they going? They are going to the mountain of the Lord’s temple. Are they going there physically? We already answered that. Jesus said we do not need to go anywhere physically. But they are streaming there. This is the advance of the Gospel, beginning in Jerusalem, moving to the ends of the earth. Isaiah saw it. They are all going to the mountain of the Lord’s temple. Why? Because on the mountain of the Lord, it has been provided. That feast mentioned in Isaiah 25, that banquet of rich foods, is provision from the Lord. Isaiah 55:1-2 “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare.” VII. Review God specified a specific place for Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac. He said, “Go to the place I will show you” — Mount Moriah — and he led him right to it. That is the place Abraham designated as the mountain of the Lord, and he coined a phrase, a proverb saying, “On the mountain of the Lord, it will be provided.” Before Israel entered the Promised Land, God told Israel through Moses in the book of Deuteronomy, you must not worship under any spreading tree or anywhere you want, but you must go to the place I choose, and there you must worship. Where was it? It was on Mount Moriah, where God ended the plague during the time of David’s sinful census, and where Solomon built the temple. But that was only God’s second provision on Mount Moriah, the temple of the Lord. He was still asking Isaac’s question, where is the lamb? And then John the Baptist points to him and says, “Behold the Lamb, see him, look at him, behold the Lamb” — he is God’s final provision of Mount Moriah. Jesus had to journey back to Mount Moriah, just like Abraham and Isaac did. He went there to die. What Abraham was asked to do, God the father did — he literally died, and he was raised from the dead on the third day. That is God’s final provision. And now survivors, messengers, are going out to the ends of the earth, to the coast lands and the distant islands who have not heard of God’s fame or seen his glory, and they are proclaiming that on the mountain of the Lord, it has been provided. Come and eat. The feast is spread. Come to the table, sit down and eat. VIII. Applications Trust in Christ and Thank Him for His Provision If you are not a believer, I invite you to come sit down and eat by faith. Trust in Jesus Christ to be your atoning sacrifice for sin. There is no other. Those who are wavering concerning the Word of God, waver no longer. Who could ever have put something like this together? It is too intricate, too perfect. This is the word of God, not merely the word of man. Lose forever any doubt about a single verse in the Bible — like the lynch pin verse, 2 Chronicles 3:1, that the temple was built on Mount Moriah. Do not doubt the Word of God anymore. This week, when you are thanking him for provision and family and all of God’s good gifts — for every good and perfect gift comes down from above — thank him more than anything for this provision for your sin.