Podcasts about Gath

There's a lot more historical narrative in today's reading, especially when compared to our first three episodes in 1 Chronicles. David becomes king, he intends to reinstitute the proper worship of God at his tabernacle. When the ark of the covenant almost falls in transit, one man reaches out to grab it, which is not permissible by God's law. The Lord strikes him dead, which both angers and terrifies David. Scared to bring it to Jerusalem, he leaves it in Gath, bringing it to Jerusalem at a later date. We'll also hear a few tales of brave men in battle and their legendary accounts of heroism and valor. These men fought alongside David and were there to help him claim kingship over Israel as the Lord had ordained. 1 Chronicles 11 - 1:11 .  1 Chronicles 12 - 8:51 .  1 Chronicles 13 - 16:11 .  1 Chronicles 14 - 18:32 .  Song of Songs 3 - 21:09 .  :::Christian Standard Bible translation.All music written and produced by John Burgess Ross.Co-produced by Bobby Brown, Katelyn Pridgen, Eric Williamson & the Christian Standard Biblefacebook.com/commuterbibleinstagram.com/commuter_bibletwitter.com/CommuterPodpatreon.com/commuterbibleadmin@commuterbible.org

QUOTES FOR REFLECTION“It takes courage to love, but pain through love is the purifying fire which those who love generously know. We all know people who are so much afraid of pain that they shut themselves up like clams in a shell and, giving out nothing, receive nothing and therefore shrink until life is a mere living death.”~Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962), diplomat, activist, and longest-serving U.S. first lady “The condition of the Psalmist's mind was complex—he feared, but that fear did not fill the whole area of his mind.... It is possible, then, for fear and faith to occupy the mind at the same moment. We are strange beings, and our experience in the divine life is stranger still. We are often in a twilight, where light and darkness are both present and it is hard to tell which predominates. It is a blessed fear which drives us to trust. Unregenerate fear drives from God, gracious fear drives to him.”~Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892), famed London pastor “The Psalter is the prayer book of Jesus Christ in the truest sense of the word. He prayed the Psalter and now it has become his prayer for all time.”~Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945), theologian-pastor, executed for his opposition to the Nazis Question 1: What is the chief end of man?Answer: Man's chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever. Question 2: What rule has God given to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy him?Answer: The Word of God, which is contained in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, is the only rule to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy him. Question 3: What do the Scriptures principally teach?Answer: The Scriptures principally teach, what man is to believe concerning God, and what duty God requires of man.~Westminster Shorter Catechism (1647) “Don't bother to give God instructions; just report for duty.”~Corrie ten Boom (1892-1983), Dutch survivor of a Nazi death campSERMON PASSAGE Psalm 56 (ESV)To the choirmaster: according to The Dove on Far-off Terebinths.A Miktam of David, when the Philistines seized him in Gath. 1  Be gracious to me, O God, for man tramples on me;  all day long an attacker oppresses me;2  my enemies trample on me all day long,  for many attack me proudly.3  When I am afraid,  I put my trust in you.4  In God, whose word I praise,  in God I trust; I shall not be afraid.  What can flesh do to me? 5  All day long they injure my cause;  all their thoughts are against me for evil.6  They stir up strife, they lurk;  they watch my steps,  as they have waited for my life.7  For their crime will they escape?  In wrath cast down the peoples, O God! 8  You have kept count of my tossings;  put my tears in your bottle.  Are they not in your book?9  Then my enemies will turn back  in the day when I call.  This I know, that God is for me.10 In God, whose word I praise,  in the Lord, whose word I praise,11 in God I trust; I shall not be afraid.  What can man do to me? 12 I must perform my vows to you, O God;  I will render thank offerings to you.13 For you have delivered my soul from death,  yes, my feet from falling,  that I may walk before God  in the light of life.

QUOTES FOR REFLECTION“The Psalter is the prayer book of Jesus Christ in the truest sense of the word. He prayed the Psalter and now it has become his prayer for all time.”~Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945), theologian-pastor, executed for his opposition to the Nazis “As long as you have not yet reached Christ, the divine word has only one piece of advice for you: ‘Come nearer; you are not yet in a place of security.'”~Augustine (354-430), North African church leader and theologian “When you are being pursued and certain ones are perpetrating slander….do not succumb to weariness, but being confident in the Lord and hymning him, recite the things in [Psalm 56].”~Athanasius (c. 296-373), theologian and church leader, in his “Letter to Marcelliuns” “The condition of the Psalmist's mind was complex—he feared, but that fear did not fill the whole area of his mind.... It is possible, then, for fear and faith to occupy the mind at the same moment. We are strange beings, and our experience in the divine life is stranger still. We are often in a twilight, where light and darkness are both present and it is hard to tell which predominates. It is a blessed fear which drives us to trust. Unregenerate fear drives from God, gracious fear drives to him.”~Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892), famed London pastor “God hath so great compassion on his servants in trouble that he reckoneth even the steps of their wanderings and pilgrimage, and numbereth all their tears, and keepeth the count thereof, as it were in a register; and therefore every troubled servant of God, when he looks upon his sufferings, should look upon God also taking as particular notice of his troubles as he himself can do.”~David Dickson (1583-1662), Scottish pastor and theologian “…is it fair for a loving God to sit on His throne in Heaven and let us struggle and suffer on our own? …It makes perfect sense to me that God decided to come among us, live like us, and die a horribly painful death after being tortured. This is a God I can love with all my heart. A God who sets an example. A God who has bled and whose heart has been broken. This is who Jesus is to me. I don't pretend that I understand the Holy Trinity. But I understand love and sacrifice. I understand faithfulness.”~Marina Nemat, author of After Tehran: A Life Reclaimed, former political prisoner and inaugural recipient of the European Parliament's Human Dignity Award (2008)SERMON PASSAGEPsalm 56 (ESV)To the choirmaster: according to The Dove on Far-off Terebinths.A Miktam of David, when the Philistines seized him in Gath. 1  Be gracious to me, O God, for man tramples on me;  all day long an attacker oppresses me;2  my enemies trample on me all day long,  for many attack me proudly.3  When I am afraid,  I put my trust in you.4  In God, whose word I praise,  in God I trust; I shall not be afraid.  What can flesh do to me? 5  All day long they injure my cause;  all their thoughts are against me for evil.6  They stir up strife, they lurk;  they watch my steps,  as they have waited for my life.7  For their crime will they escape?  In wrath cast down the peoples, O God! 8  You have kept count of my tossings;  put my tears in your bottle.  Are they not in your book?9  Then my enemies will turn back  in the day when I call.  This I know, that God is for me.10 In God, whose word I praise,  in the Lord, whose word I praise,11 in God I trust; I shall not be afraid.  What can man do to me? 12 I must perform my vows to you, O God;  I will render thank offerings to you.13 For you have delivered my soul from death,  yes, my feet from falling,  that I may walk before God  in the light of life.

[Galatians 6:7] Don't be misled—you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant. There's usually a gap between your ________________ and your ________________. God often uses those who are ___________________, for his glory. [1 Samuel 17.13-17] Jesse's three oldest sons—Eliab, Abinadab, and Shimea—had already joined Saul's army to fight the Philistines. [14] David was the youngest son. David's three oldest brothers stayed with Saul's army, [15] but David went back and forth so he could help his father with the sheep in Bethlehem. [16] For forty days, every morning and evening, the Philistine champion strutted in front of the Israelite army. [17] One day Jesse said to David, “Take this basket of roasted grain and these ten loaves of bread, and carry them quickly to your brothers. Nothing is insignificant in your life when it is done for the ________________ of Jesus. The best opportunities come when we wholeheartedly serve Jesus in the __________ __________ [Luke 16.10] “If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large ones. [1 Samuel 17.17-23] One day Jesse said to David, “Take this basket of roasted grain and these ten loaves of bread, and carry them quickly to your brothers. [18] And give these ten cuts of cheese to their captain. See how your brothers are getting along, and bring back a report on how they are doing.” [19] David's brothers were with Saul and the Israelite army at the valley of Elah, fighting against the Philistines. [20] So David left the sheep with another shepherd and set out early the next morning with the gifts, as Jesse had directed him. He arrived at the camp just as the Israelite army was leaving for the battlefield with shouts and battle cries. [21] Soon the Israelite and Philistine forces stood facing each other, army against army. [22] David left his things with the keeper of supplies and hurried out to the ranks to greet his brothers. [23] As he was talking with them, Goliath, the Philistine champion from Gath, came out from the Philistine ranks. Then David heard him shout his usual taunt to the army of Israel. When you serve, you are ________________ people to the power of Jesus. [Ephesians 6:7-8] Work with enthusiasm, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people. [8] Remember that the Lord will reward each one of us for the good we do, whether we are slaves or free. Life's greatest ________________ are received when we ________________ Jesus.

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

Sermon Notes: Raised to Praise Preacher: Rev. Dr. Ebenezer Okronipa Main Text: Psalm 89:15–18 Supporting Scriptures: Psalm 34:1, Numbers 13 (Kadesh Barnea Account), 1 Samuel 17 (David & Goliath), Jeremiah 30:19, Psalm 67:5–6, Acts 16:25–26, 2 Chronicles 20:21–23, Psalm 149:5–9, Nehemiah 8:10 Core Theme: In life, your mindset and programming determine your trajectory. Believers must reject a structural identity built on complaining, murmuring, and negativity, and instead tap into the supernatural power of divine programming to become people who are intentionally "raised to praise." 1. Introduction: Identity, Persona, and Mentalities In life, individuals unconsciously adopt specific personas, identities, and mindsets that govern how they react to reality. Many of these default mentalities are completely unbiblical. Your long-term mentality is highly dependent on your internal spiritual programming. You can actively choose the kind of person you want to become by shifting what rules your mind. 2. Prophetic Case Study: Two Distant Categories of Programming Category I: Those "Raised to Complain" (The Ten Spies) The Historical Context (Kadesh Barnea): When the children of Israel reached Kadesh Barnea—the exact border of the Promised Land—Moses dispatched twelve spies to spy out the territory and bring back a structural report. The Negative Report: Ten of the spies returned with a report saturated with fear, murmuring, and defeatist descriptions. They acknowledged the fruitfulness of the land but focused entirely on the obstacles: the fortified cities and the descendants of Anak (the Anakites), who were literal physical giants. The Grasshopper Complex: The ten spies reported: "We saw ourselves as grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight." Instead of focusing on God's foundational promises, they viewed reality through their physical shortcomings, short stature, and inadequate military experience. The Warning Against Structural Complaining: These ten spies represent individuals who are culturally and systematically programmed to only spot negativity, problems, errors, and disadvantages in any environment, group, or local church. Category II: Those "Raised to Praise" (Joshua and Caleb) Operating under an entirely different internal spirit, Joshua and Caleb stood before the assembly with a contradictory testimony. They witnessed the exact same giants, cities, and physical realities, yet their immediate response was praise, confidence, and radical faith. Where the ten spies perceived an un-scalable wall of destruction, those raised to praise perceived a divine opportunity to rise up, break forth, and fully conquer the territory. 3. The Structural Mechanics of a Praiser: The Pattern of David Psalm 34:1 "I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth." Praise Under Pressure: Rev. Dr. Ebenezer Okronipa emphasized that true praise must be deployed regardless of what is laid out on your physical plate or unfolding in your life. Praise is non-negotiable; it cannot be limited to good times. If you do not master this, the enemy will inevitably conquer your mind with deep depression and structural anxiety. The Rejection of the Wilderness: David was structurally rejected by his own biological family, left out of academic opportunities, and abandoned in the isolated desert to tend sheep while his brothers were groomed for leadership. Yet, instead of developing bitterness, David utilized the isolation of the desert to master the joyful sound and compose timeless Psalms. The Confrontation with Goliath (1 Samuel 17): Because David was forged in private praise, he walked onto the active war front with a completely different spiritual estimation. While King Saul and the entire trained army of Israel were physically shaking and paralyzed by the daily threats of Goliath of Gath, David saw the giant simply as an uncircumcised Philistine and a structural stepping stone to his next level of authority. 4. Scriptural Exposition: The Mystery of the Joyful Sound Psalm 89:15 "Blessed are the people who know the joyful sound! They walk, O Lord, in the light of Your countenance." "Blessed..." In original context, this literally translates to Happy. True kingdom happiness is structurally bound to your level of praise. "Who know..." The word "know" denotes deep spiritual perception, personal familiarity, and an intimate acquaintance with the frequency of praise. There are many individuals who remain completely ignorant of the technical mechanics of praise. The Contrast with Worldly Performance: People enthusiastically celebrate, shout, jump, and take selfies when their favorite football team scores or executes a strategic win on the pitch. If believers can channel that exact raw level of energetic celebration into high praise toward the Living God, they will activate unprecedented levels of dynamic breakthroughs. 5. What is Praise? (The Greek Root) Praise is derived from the Greek word "Eulogia" or "Eulogeo", which fundamentally means to speak fine, excellent, and beautiful words. It is the deliberate act of using your vocal capacity to structure and release beautiful, uplifting declarations about the character and capability of God. The Mediums of Praise: You can legally express Eulogia through several physical and spiritual streams: dynamic singing, spoken prophetic words, high-spirited dancing, and specific, consistent thanksgiving offerings. 6. The Six Supernatural Dimensions Activated via Praise When a believer transitions into a continuous lifestyle of praise, six distinct spiritual realities are legally triggered into manifestation: I. The Weaponization of Vengeance Scriptures: Psalm 149:5–9, 2 Chronicles 20:21–23 High praise carries an intrinsic spiritual capability to execute heavy judgment and divine vengeance against the legal enemies of God's children. Praise is not a passive song; praise is active warfare. When King Jehoshaphat positioned the praisers ahead of the army, God physically ambushed and completely annihilated their adversaries. II. The Provocation of Supernatural Multiplication Scriptures: Jeremiah 30:19, Psalm 67:5–6 The Principle: Whenever the voice of thanksgiving and high celebration proceeds from a house, God responds with rapid numerical and financial multiplication. Scripturally, when you praise Him, "then shall the earth yield her increase." Jesus modeled this by offering praise over a structural deficit of five loaves and two fish, turning it into a cascading surplus. III. The Invocation of the Manifested Presence Scriptures: Acts 16:25–26, Psalm 89:15 Praise acts as a supernatural conduit that pulls down the raw, manifested presence and earthquake power of God. When Paul and Silas sang hymns inside the deepest dungeon of Philippi under maximum constraint, the localized presence of God violently shook the structural foundations of the prison and threw every door wide open. IV. The Deployment of Divine Favor and Honor Scriptures: Psalm 89:16–17, Jeremiah 30:19 Operating in praise triggers a peculiar fragrance of favor that causes your "horn" (authority and influence) to be dynamically exalted. God guarantees that those who glorify Him with praise will be heavily honored and completely removed from a low estimation or a small estate. V. The Release of Supernatural Strength and Empowerment Scriptures: Psalm 89:17, Nehemiah 8:10 God Himself becomes the literal glory of your physical and mental capacity. Murmuring and a stiff countenance cause physical illnesses, ulcers, and inner structural damage. However, because the joy of the Lord is your unshakeable strength, deep praise releases raw, divine vitality into your system. VI. The Enforcement of Total Divine Protection Scripture: Psalm 89:18 For the people who explicitly understand and operate within the joyful sound, the Lord takes up a legal position as their supreme defense and permanent shield. Your safety is structurally locked behind the gateway of your praise. 7. Practical Application & Commissioning Audit Your Countenance: Reject a stiff, frozen, or frowning expression. A stiff face reflects an internal state akin to a lifeless stick, whereas a joyful, smiling countenance releases an angelic atmosphere. Shift Your Default Vocabulary: Stop utilizing your words to map out grievances, small resources, educational limitations, or past rejections. Adopt the Eulogia frequency: daily speak fine, excellent, and bold words over your life, your home, and your business. Engage in Radical Action: Walk out of this message into active celebration. Shake off the wilderness mentality, grab a partner by the hand, and unlock the heavy blessings of multiplication, favor, and protection by executing your highest, most passionate dance steps before the King!

Sermon Notes: Raised to Praise Preacher: Rev. Dr. Ebenezer Okronipa Main Text: Psalm 89:15–18 Supporting Scriptures: Psalm 34:1, Numbers 13 (Kadesh Barnea Account), 1 Samuel 17 (David & Goliath), Jeremiah 30:19, Psalm 67:5–6, Acts 16:25–26, 2 Chronicles 20:21–23, Psalm 149:5–9, Nehemiah 8:10 Core Theme: In life, your mindset and programming determine your trajectory. Believers must reject a structural identity built on complaining, murmuring, and negativity, and instead tap into the supernatural power of divine programming to become people who are intentionally "raised to praise." 1. Introduction: Identity, Persona, and Mentalities In life, individuals unconsciously adopt specific personas, identities, and mindsets that govern how they react to reality. Many of these default mentalities are completely unbiblical. Your long-term mentality is highly dependent on your internal spiritual programming. You can actively choose the kind of person you want to become by shifting what rules your mind. 2. Prophetic Case Study: Two Distant Categories of Programming Category I: Those "Raised to Complain" (The Ten Spies) The Historical Context (Kadesh Barnea): When the children of Israel reached Kadesh Barnea—the exact border of the Promised Land—Moses dispatched twelve spies to spy out the territory and bring back a structural report. The Negative Report: Ten of the spies returned with a report saturated with fear, murmuring, and defeatist descriptions. They acknowledged the fruitfulness of the land but focused entirely on the obstacles: the fortified cities and the descendants of Anak (the Anakites), who were literal physical giants. The Grasshopper Complex: The ten spies reported: "We saw ourselves as grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight." Instead of focusing on God's foundational promises, they viewed reality through their physical shortcomings, short stature, and inadequate military experience. The Warning Against Structural Complaining: These ten spies represent individuals who are culturally and systematically programmed to only spot negativity, problems, errors, and disadvantages in any environment, group, or local church. Category II: Those "Raised to Praise" (Joshua and Caleb) Operating under an entirely different internal spirit, Joshua and Caleb stood before the assembly with a contradictory testimony. They witnessed the exact same giants, cities, and physical realities, yet their immediate response was praise, confidence, and radical faith. Where the ten spies perceived an un-scalable wall of destruction, those raised to praise perceived a divine opportunity to rise up, break forth, and fully conquer the territory. 3. The Structural Mechanics of a Praiser: The Pattern of David Psalm 34:1 "I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth." Praise Under Pressure: Rev. Dr. Ebenezer Okronipa emphasized that true praise must be deployed regardless of what is laid out on your physical plate or unfolding in your life. Praise is non-negotiable; it cannot be limited to good times. If you do not master this, the enemy will inevitably conquer your mind with deep depression and structural anxiety. The Rejection of the Wilderness: David was structurally rejected by his own biological family, left out of academic opportunities, and abandoned in the isolated desert to tend sheep while his brothers were groomed for leadership. Yet, instead of developing bitterness, David utilized the isolation of the desert to master the joyful sound and compose timeless Psalms. The Confrontation with Goliath (1 Samuel 17): Because David was forged in private praise, he walked onto the active war front with a completely different spiritual estimation. While King Saul and the entire trained army of Israel were physically shaking and paralyzed by the daily threats of Goliath of Gath, David saw the giant simply as an uncircumcised Philistine and a structural stepping stone to his next level of authority. 4. Scriptural Exposition: The Mystery of the Joyful Sound Psalm 89:15 "Blessed are the people who know the joyful sound! They walk, O Lord, in the light of Your countenance." "Blessed..." In original context, this literally translates to Happy. True kingdom happiness is structurally bound to your level of praise. "Who know..." The word "know" denotes deep spiritual perception, personal familiarity, and an intimate acquaintance with the frequency of praise. There are many individuals who remain completely ignorant of the technical mechanics of praise. The Contrast with Worldly Performance: People enthusiastically celebrate, shout, jump, and take selfies when their favorite football team scores or executes a strategic win on the pitch. If believers can channel that exact raw level of energetic celebration into high praise toward the Living God, they will activate unprecedented levels of dynamic breakthroughs. 5. What is Praise? (The Greek Root) Praise is derived from the Greek word "Eulogia" or "Eulogeo", which fundamentally means to speak fine, excellent, and beautiful words. It is the deliberate act of using your vocal capacity to structure and release beautiful, uplifting declarations about the character and capability of God. The Mediums of Praise: You can legally express Eulogia through several physical and spiritual streams: dynamic singing, spoken prophetic words, high-spirited dancing, and specific, consistent thanksgiving offerings. 6. The Six Supernatural Dimensions Activated via Praise When a believer transitions into a continuous lifestyle of praise, six distinct spiritual realities are legally triggered into manifestation: I. The Weaponization of Vengeance Scriptures: Psalm 149:5–9, 2 Chronicles 20:21–23 High praise carries an intrinsic spiritual capability to execute heavy judgment and divine vengeance against the legal enemies of God's children. Praise is not a passive song; praise is active warfare. When King Jehoshaphat positioned the praisers ahead of the army, God physically ambushed and completely annihilated their adversaries. II. The Provocation of Supernatural Multiplication Scriptures: Jeremiah 30:19, Psalm 67:5–6 The Principle: Whenever the voice of thanksgiving and high celebration proceeds from a house, God responds with rapid numerical and financial multiplication. Scripturally, when you praise Him, "then shall the earth yield her increase." Jesus modeled this by offering praise over a structural deficit of five loaves and two fish, turning it into a cascading surplus. III. The Invocation of the Manifested Presence Scriptures: Acts 16:25–26, Psalm 89:15 Praise acts as a supernatural conduit that pulls down the raw, manifested presence and earthquake power of God. When Paul and Silas sang hymns inside the deepest dungeon of Philippi under maximum constraint, the localized presence of God violently shook the structural foundations of the prison and threw every door wide open. IV. The Deployment of Divine Favor and Honor Scriptures: Psalm 89:16–17, Jeremiah 30:19 Operating in praise triggers a peculiar fragrance of favor that causes your "horn" (authority and influence) to be dynamically exalted. God guarantees that those who glorify Him with praise will be heavily honored and completely removed from a low estimation or a small estate. V. The Release of Supernatural Strength and Empowerment Scriptures: Psalm 89:17, Nehemiah 8:10 God Himself becomes the literal glory of your physical and mental capacity. Murmuring and a stiff countenance cause physical illnesses, ulcers, and inner structural damage. However, because the joy of the Lord is your unshakeable strength, deep praise releases raw, divine vitality into your system. VI. The Enforcement of Total Divine Protection Scripture: Psalm 89:18 For the people who explicitly understand and operate within the joyful sound, the Lord takes up a legal position as their supreme defense and permanent shield. Your safety is structurally locked behind the gateway of your praise. 7. Practical Application & Commissioning Audit Your Countenance: Reject a stiff, frozen, or frowning expression. A stiff face reflects an internal state akin to a lifeless stick, whereas a joyful, smiling countenance releases an angelic atmosphere. Shift Your Default Vocabulary: Stop utilizing your words to map out grievances, small resources, educational limitations, or past rejections. Adopt the Eulogia frequency: daily speak fine, excellent, and bold words over your life, your home, and your business. Engage in Radical Action: Walk out of this message into active celebration. Shake off the wilderness mentality, grab a partner by the hand, and unlock the heavy blessings of multiplication, favor, and protection by executing your highest, most passionate dance steps before the King!

1 Samuel 7.2-14 2 Il s'était passé bien du temps depuis le jour où l'arche avait été déposée à Kirjath-Jearim. Vingt années s'étaient écoulées. Alors toute la maison d'Israël poussa des gémissements vers l'Eternel. 3 Samuel dit à toute la maison d'Israël: Si c'est de tout votre cœur que vous revenez à l'Eternel, ôtez du milieu de vous les dieux étrangers et les Astartés, dirigez votre cœur vers l'Eternel, et servez-le lui seul; et il vous délivrera de la main des Philistins. 4 Et les enfants d'Israël ôtèrent du milieu d'eux les Baals et les Astartés, et ils servirent l'Eternel seul. 5 Samuel dit: Assemblez tout Israël à Mitspa, et je prierai l'Eternel pour vous. Et ils s'assemblèrent à Mitspa. 6 Ils puisèrent de l'eau et la répandirent devant l'Eternel, et ils jeûnèrent ce jour-là, en disant: Nous avons péché contre l'Eternel! Samuel jugea les enfants d'Israël à Mitspa. 7 Les Philistins apprirent que les enfants d'Israël s'étaient assemblés à Mitspa, et les princes des Philistins montèrent contre Israël. A cette nouvelle, les enfants d'Israël eurent peur des Philistins, 8 et ils dirent à Samuel: Ne cesse point de crier pour nous à l'Eternel, notre Dieu, afin qu'il nous sauve de la main des Philistins. 9 Samuel prit un agneau de lait, et l'offrit tout entier en holocauste à l'Eternel. Il cria à l'Eternel pour Israël, et l'Eternel l'exauça. 10 Pendant que Samuel offrait l'holocauste, les Philistins s'approchèrent pour attaquer Israël. L'Eternel fit retentir en ce jour son tonnerre sur les Philistins, et les mit en déroute. Ils furent battus devant Israël. 11 Les hommes d'Israël sortirent de Mitspa, poursuivirent les Philistins, et les battirent jusqu'au-dessous de Beth-Car. 12 Samuel prit une pierre, qu'il plaça entre Mitspa et Schen, et il l'appela du nom d'Eben-Ezer, en disant: Jusqu'ici l'Eternel nous a secourus. 13 Ainsi les Philistins furent humiliés, et ils ne vinrent plus sur le territoire d'Israël. La main de l'Eternel fut contre les Philistins pendant toute la vie de Samuel. 14 Les villes que les Philistins avaient prises sur Israël retournèrent à Israël, depuis Ekron jusqu'à Gath, avec leur territoire; Israël les arracha de la main des Philistins. Et il y eut paix entre Israël et les Amoréens.

Shoot The Puck är en podcast av hockeynews.seKent ”Nubben” Norberg är en av svensk hockeys största profiler och nu är han på väg in i sin 25:e säsong i Timrå IK. Han har dessutom tre år i Frölunda och två år i Jönköping. ”Nubben” vet vad det innebär att vara sportchef i SHL och nu står han dessutom inför en ombyggnation i klubben.Livet efter Dahlén och Pettersson med ny huvudtränare och nya viktiga nyckelspelare – men han backas av ingen mindre än Henrik Zetterberg som visar ”oväntat stort” engagemang i klubben.Nu gästar ”Nubben” Shoot The Puck.1.45: Faktaruta – lär känna Kent Norberg9.30: Kimmo Kapanens betydelse för Timrå11.00: Nubbens sista hockeyjobb12.00: Så blev Gath nye huvudtränaren14.00: Timrå kommer göra sig av med spelare14.45: Beskedet om Freij och Genborg15.20: ”Oväntade” engagemanget från Zäta och Berglund19.00: Sista orden till Dahlén och Pettersson20.30: Timrå lyckades inte fullt ut med hemvändarna23.45: Analysen av Kivenmäki och Växjöduon28.30: ”Honom hade vi jagat i flera år”29.00: Kontakten med gamla Timrålegendarerna21.20: Vill Nubben ha en arena i Sundsvall?34.00: 8 snabba med Norberg

We're going to bring you the second half of pastor Jeff's message in First Samuel twenty-one, and it's a pretty amazing scene we see here. David is fleeing from his father, Saul, and he ends up in Gath, before King Achish. David was a pretty smart guy, and in order to buy some time as he fled Saul, what does he do? He acts like a deranged nut! Of course, there's a method to his madness, and here to tell us about it is pastor Jeff. To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.oneplace.com/donate/621/29?v=20251111

Today we'll be in 1 Samuel 17:4 talking about the importance of your perspective.“And there came out from the camp of the Philistines a champion named Goliath of Gath…” 1 Samuel 17:4Ridgecrest exists to reach the lost, build the believer, and connect the people of God to the mission and purpose of God. The Heart Truth podcast is just one way we seek to accomplish our mission online and you can help us by leaving reviews on your podcast platform of choice or by sharing these devotions with someone you know.To let us know how we can pray for you or to find out more about Ridgecrest, take a minute to fill out our Connection Card linked below. https://my.rbcdothan.org/connectioncardIf you'd like to receive our daily devotionals in your inbox, sign up HERE free of charge: https://mailchi.mp/4bcc8628406b/daily-heart-truth-devotionsThe Journey Podcast:YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@JourneyPodRBCSubstack: https://thejourneypodcast.substack.comApple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-journey/id1785079800 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0syXQWFX6IhTZjeJsHWxtM?si=c4c7397b153248f6Ridgecrest Sermons podcast:Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ridgecrest-baptist-church-sermons/id1517442154Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3Ir5YcahI8G2SiIjrycB8W?si=0bc532b4f72c4facFind us online Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RidgecrestDothanInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/ridgecrestbaptist/profilecard/?igsh=MWRrZHZwdXprYzhwZw==YouTube: www.youtube.com/@rbcdothanTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@rbcdothan?_t=ZP-8wfPSkVSuYo&_r=1Our website https://www.rbcdothan.orgWATCH LIVE Sunday and Wednesday: https://rbcdothan.online.church

Motion Church | Warrior Poet Society, Week 2: "Lessons on the Lamb" Season two of the David series backtracks a bit this week — picking up not after the Bathsheba scandal, but earlier, when Saul is still king and wants David dead. "Not the kind of situation you want to find yourself in." Jealous and paranoid over David's growing popularity (there was literally a chorus about him: "Saul has slain his thousands, David his tens of thousands"), Saul starts hurling actual spears at him. So David goes "on the lamb" — on the run — which gives this message its title: Lessons on the Lamb. First lesson: strength doesn't always look like what we think it looks like. Even though David once stood fearlessly before Goliath, here he is running from a "washed up warrior." Why? Because David understood it wasn't his timing or his fight to pick. "There are battles in your life... that only God can fight." Sometimes the strongest thing a person can do isn't retaliate — it's walk away. "If I respond, it is not peace. It is debris, it is chaos, it is destruction, and I may feel right or think that it's right, but it doesn't make it right." Discernment — sometimes in the form of a spouse saying "babe" — matters. "Strength doesn't always look like you think that strength looks. It's a different kind of strength." Second lesson, and maybe the coolest full-circle moment in David's life: old swords, new battles. After defeating Goliath, David took the giant's own sword as a trophy. Years later, fleeing from Saul and desperate for a weapon, David arrives at the tabernacle in Nob, and the priest Ahimelech tells him there's only one sword available — Goliath's, wrapped in cloth, practically forgotten. David's response: "There is none like it. Give it to me." The lesson lands personally: "The battles from your past are the weapons for your future." Nothing you've gone through was wasted. "God does not waste anything in our lives." And the weapon isn't just for you — "it helps other people too." The final lesson is what gets called a "looney lesson." Fleeing into enemy territory — the city of Gath, ruled by King Achish — David realizes he's been recognized and is in real danger. So he does something wild: he pretends to be insane, scratching on the gate and drooling into his beard, until Achish dismisses him as a madman not worth the trouble. "Sometimes doing the right thing will make you look like a mad person." When you're doing what God has called you to do, "it's not always going to make sense to other people." And that's fine — "our purpose is more than to impress people. We are here to honor the sacrifice of Jesus' life on the cross." After all, the message of the cross itself looked like foolishness to the world — "the one who knew no sin became sin on my behalf... it's foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God." Three lessons from a man on the run: a different kind of strength, old swords for new battles, and sometimes a little bit of "crazy" is exactly what faithfulness looks like.

Today we continue in our series, Who is King?, in 1 Samuel. In chapters 21-22, David is on the run. He lies to the priest in order to receive some consecrated bread, gets Goliath's sword, and ends up acting insane to flee from King Achish of Gath. King Saul has 85 priests killed, and only one is spared. Pastor Eric shares three points as we work through the text: 1) Grace Protects 2) Grace Gathers 3) Grace Preserves

Brother Mike Madsen traces the downfall of King Saul through 1 Samuel 20-26, contrasting his pride and jealousy with Jonathan's loyalty and Abigail' s Christlike intercessions, and the hard, personal work of forgiving and laying down a vengeful heart.FREE PDF DOWNLOADS OF followHIM QUOTE BOOKSNew Testament: https://tinyurl.com/PodcastNTBookOld Testament: https://tinyurl.com/PodcastOTBookBook of Mormon: https://tinyurl.com/PodcastBMBook WEEKLY NEWSLETTERhttps://tinyurl.com/followHIMnewsletter SOCIAL MEDIAInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/followHIMpodcastFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/followhimpodcastTIMECODE0:00 - Part 2 - Brother Michael Madsen1:37 Alma 29 and the abundance vs scarcity mentality3:16 Saul consumed by “I” disease4:57 David at Nob5;42 David flees to Gath, then to caves6:33 Doeg the Edomite and the slaughter of 85 priests8:04 D&C 121–power, the priesthood, and unrighteous dominion9:01 “What makes you think you're not in a similar spot now?”10:39 Tending your own small kingdom13:19 Why do you want to be with the Savior?14:59 Two kings, three temptations, and one prevailed15:24 Looking for Christ in everything and 1 Sam. 2316:33 Abiathar, the ephod, David spares Saul20:52 Samuel dies and Nabal's request22:44 David's weakness and marching to take revenge23:57 Abigail intercedes26:52 Sister Yee: ‘Abigail as type of Jesus Christ”28:53 Nabal's death29:13 Sister Yee's “Beauty for Ashes”32:28 Was David traumatized and receiving counsel35:52 The boy caught in the cog37:22 “Take all you'd like,” and the heart that changed in a cornfield38:11 President Oaks held at gunpoint43:00 President Nelson: “He is coming, get the youth ready”46:53 End of Part 2 - Brother Mike MadsenThanks to the followHIM team:Steve & Shannon Sorensen: Cofounder, Executive Producer, SponsorDavid & Verla Sorensen: SponsorsDr. Hank Smith: Co-hostJohn Bytheway: Co-hostDavid Perry: ProducerKyle Nelson: Marketing, SponsorLisa Spice: Client Relations, Editor, Show NotesWill Stoughton: Video EditorKrystal Roberts: Translation Team, English & French Transcripts, WebsiteAriel Cuadra: Spanish TranscriptsAmelia Kabwika: Portuguese TranscriptsHeather Barlow: Communications DirectorSydney Smith: Social Media, Graphic Design "Let Zion in Her Beauty Rise" by Marshall McDonaldhttps://www.marshallmcdonaldmusic.com

Now that David is king, he intends to reinstitute the proper worship of God at his tabernacle, which means that the ark of the covenant needs to be retrieved. When the ark almost falls in transit, one man reaches out to grab it, which is not permissible by God's law. The Lord strikes him dead, which both angers and terrifies David. Scared to bring it to Jerusalem, he leaves it in Gath. After staying in the house of Obed-Edom for a while, the ark of the covenant finally comes to Jerusalem with great fanfare. After King David reestablishes the tabernacle, he returns to his own home. 1 Chronicles 13 - 1:02 .  1 Chronicles 14 - 3:26 .  1 Chronicles 15 - 6:41 .  1 Chronicles 16 - 11:28 .  :::Christian Standard Bible translation.All music written and produced by John Burgess Ross.Co-produced by the Christian Standard Bible.facebook.com/commuterbibleinstagram.com/commuter_bibletwitter.com/CommuterPodpatreon.com/commuterbibleadmin@commuterbible.org

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Group Guide Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.Additional context: Watch the theology teaching video, What is the Bible? 2 Samuel 15 Mike Goble Download TranscriptAll right, so Chet and Spencer are away. Let's get down to business. No, no, no, no, no. My name is Mike. I'm an elder in training here. Last week at the end of the sermon, I had three people come up to me and say that I reminded them of Absalom.I had one person come up and tell me I reminded them of Abimelech and I reminded them that that's not what the story was about and that was Raz. So when they told me that I reminded them of Absalom, I said, "Oh, of course, the striking good looks." And they all pretty intentionally clarified, "No, that is not why. it is because you have long hair and you are trying to convince people to leave this church and go out with you to plant another church. And so that brings me to my first point today. Oak Ridge Church in Lexington will be meeting sometime in January of 2027. Now this is not an infomercial for our church plant, even though we are very excited about that.We're going to be today in 2 Samuel. We're going to be in chapter 15. This is going to be on page 304 of the Bibles that are at your seats. We would ask if you'd consider not using an electronic Bible if you're willing and instead maybe pick one of those Bibles up and we're going to read the Bible together. And we think that's a helpful thing. Before we get started in our text, I'm going to pray for us. Father, we thank you for being our God, for being our salvation.We thank you for your good scripture that teaches us about you. Please Lord, may the Spirit work in our hearts through the foolishness of preaching that we would be changed to be more like your Son in Jesus' name. Amen. All right. Last week we saw that David permitted Absalom to return back to Jerusalem after he initially spent three years in exile after murdering his brother Amnon after Amnon's sin with Tamar. But even though Absalom was back in Jerusalem, he was not allowed to be in the king's presence.And after about two years, he kind of forces himself back into the king's presence by burning down Joab's field. Now, Joab is one of David's nephews. He is the son of David's sister. And he's one of the commanders of David's army. So, Absalom burns down the field, gets his attention, and Joab tells David, and David lets Absalom back into his presence. And then Absalom goes and spends the next four years positioning himself daily at the city gate, rendering judgments and manipulating the people, stealing their hearts is what it says. He is taking them away from their loyalty and their allegiance to King David.He then travels down to Hebron, which is about 18 miles or so south of Jerusalem. And he's got a large group of followers with him. And guys, remember Hebron is actually a pretty significant place. It's significant that he goes down there. So Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the patriarchs, the men from which all of Israel descended, are buried.They're all buried in Hebron. And David himself was was anointed king down in Hebron. So this is a pretty significant place. And now we see Absalom is down there and he's proclaimed as king, but he's not anointed. He's taking it by manipulation. And we're going to see taking it by force.This is the beginning of a full-scale rebellion. And today we're actually gonna look at how David responds and how the people around David respond to what's going on here in Israel. We pick up in verse 13 of chapter 15. And a messenger came to David saying, "The hearts of the men of Israel have gone after Absalom." Then David said to all his servants who were with him at Jerusalem, "Arise and let us flee, or else there will be no escape for us from Absalom," "Go quickly, lest he overtake us quickly and bring down ruin on us and strike the city with the edge of the sword."And the king's servant said to the king, "Behold, your servants are ready to do whatever my Lord, the king, decides." So the king went out and all his household after him. And the king left 10 concubines to keep the house. And the king went out and all the people after him and they halted at the last house. All right.So a messenger comes in and tells David, hey, Israel is going to follow Absalom. So through his manipulation over the last four years, he has won over a significant portion of people that this messenger comes right in and says, "Hey, is the hearts of the men of Israel, they're gone. And they're not just gone from you. They've gone to your son Absalom." Meaning Absalom has the loyalty of these people. So David responds by saying to all his servants that are still in Jerusalem that they need to flee because if they stay, they will not escape from Absalom and he will come quickly and violently and he will ruin them.And so his servants get up with him and they get ready to flee and they leave behind the 10 concubines to maintain the house. And now they're going. And this is a pretty high pressure moment in this story. And we've we've kind of seen stuff like this play out in stories before, right? You know, you know the story the the tale of the prince who his uncle wanted to become king. And so he convinces the prince that the prince killed his dad.And the prince gets so overwhelmed and so scared that he flees. And he leaves Pride Rock. And Zazu and Rafiki have no idea what they're going to do. And we see stories like this in our entertainment. But guys, this happens a lot and it has happened a lot in history.There are so many coups in history from the murder of Julius Caesar to Napoleon taking over France to Castro and the Cuban Revolution. Did you know that in 2024 there was a coup in South Korea where the president of South Korea decided he was going to declare martial law so the legislature you know they couldn't meet or do anything and then well the legislature met anyway and 11 days later he was impeached and then put on trial. That was two years ago. This kind of stuff has been happening forever throughout history. And honestly, when I think about that, I can't help but think back to 1 Samuel chapter 8, where Israel is demanding that they have a king so they can be like all the other nations.And David, their king, is now here fleeing Jerusalem because his son is coming to overthrow him just like so many other nations before them and so many other nations that will come after them. What do you think was on David's mind? What do you think he was thinking about here? You know, the text doesn't directly say, but do you remember what the Lord said through the prophet Nathan in chapter 12? In chapter 12, when Nathan is pronouncing his judgment from God on David for his sin, the Lord says to David that the sword will not depart from your house. And then right after in chapter 13, we find out Absalom kills his brother Amnon.So, one of David's sons kills the other. And now David suspects Absalom is coming for him. So his plan is to flee. And it might be because he's afraid of Absalom. It might be because he wants to avoid conflict with his own son. It might also be acceptance of the judgment of God.And I actually think that the rest of what we're going to look at today supports that idea. Supports that David has accepted what God has planned for him no matter what. All right. So, David's servants are ready to go and they begin leaving Jerusalem together. And let's pick up verse 18. And all his servants pass by him.And all the Cherethites and all the Pelethites and all the 600 Gittites who had followed him from Gath passed on before the king. Then the king said to Ittai the Gittite, "Why do you also go with us? Go back and stay with the king, for you are a foreigner, and also in exile from your home. You came only yesterday. And shall I today make you wander about with us, since I go, I know not where? Go back, take your brothers with you.And may the Lord show steadfast love and faithfulness to you." But Ittai answered the king, "As the Lord lives and as my Lord the king lives, wherever my Lord the king shall be, whether for death or for life, there also will be your servant." And David said to Ittai, "Go then, pass on." So Ittai the Gittite passed on with all his men and all the little ones who were with him. And all the land wept aloud as all the people passed by and the king crossed the brook Kedron and all the people passed on toward the wilderness. Okay, so David's leaving and as he's leaving he passes by different people that are highlighted for us here in the text.First there's the Cherethites, the Pelethites and the Gittites. So the Cherethites and the Pelethites are part of the royal bodyguard. So these are warriors who protect David and they go with him. And the Gittites and their leader Ittai are originally from Gath, we're told. And that's a a Philistine city. And the reason that we're told that is because back in 1 Samuel, David when he was originally fleeing Israel, fleeing from Saul when Saul wanted him dead, lived in Gath.And these men followed him when he returned back to Israel. And so he gives Ittai the option. He says, "Go back. You can just go back and align yourself with Absalom. You do not have to come with me." He says, "There's not really a reason for you, Ittai, to go ahead and get caught up in this problem.I'm releasing you from that." And Ittai refuses and he says, "He's going to stay with David even to death." And that is pretty awesome. There's something in us that just kind of loves a display of loyalty and a display of friendship like that. If you remember the famous book series that was adapted into the blockbuster movies, The Lord of the Rings, the whole series, the whole journey, the main character is trying to destroy this ring that he has to carry. And right when he's at the end, right when he's just feet almost steps from being able to do so, he runs out of strength and and by his side with him the whole time is his friend, his best friend that he's known his whole life.And his friend looks at him and says, "I can't carry it for you." And that's the ring, "But I can carry you." And when you watch that in the theater or maybe at your house, you're like, "Yeah, and I can carry it for you, too." You just like get so swept up in it, it's really cool. And your wife says pipe down, but you're like, "No, this is this is awesome." And so we see that and that strikes a chord within our hearts because we love that display of loyalty and friendship.We want to be a part of that display of loyalty and friendship. And so I think that's a really noteworthy thing and I think it's included in that in who he passes by on his way out of town because we get to see that exceptional display of friendship and loyalty to David. So, he's got this large group of faithful friends who in his darkest hour are leaving Jerusalem with him and they're all together and it says that they're weeping and that they're headed into the wilderness. Verse 24, and Abiathar came up, and behold, Zadok came also with all the Levites bearing the ark of the covenant of God.And they set down the ark of God until the people had all passed out of the city. Then the king said to Zadok, "carry the ark of God back into the city. If I find favor in the eyes of the Lord, he will bring me back and let me see both it and his dwelling place. But if he says, I have no pleasure in you, behold, here I am, let him do to me what seems good to him." The king also said to Zadok the priest, "Are you not a seer? Go back to the city in peace with your two sons, Ahimeaz, your son, and Jonathan, the son of Abiathar.See, I will wait at the fords of the wilderness until word comes from you to inform me." So Zadok and Abiathar carried the ark of God back to Jerusalem, and they remain there. But David went up the ascent of the Mount of Olives, weeping as he went, barefoot and with his head covered. And all the people who were with him covered their heads and they went up weeping as they went. And it was told David, Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom. And David said, "O Lord, please turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness."All right. Now we are going to get into David's response to the situation that he's in. So Abiathar and Zadok, who are they? They are the chief priests. They are part of the Levites and they carry the ark of the covenant. And the ark of the covenant represents God's presence with his people.What does David say? He tells them, "Take it back to Jerusalem." Why? Why would David say that? Part of the answer to that question is because he says, "Zadok, aren't you a Aren't you a seer? Aren't you a prophet?" maybe David thinks, well, if he's back there, he can he can get some information out to me while I'm out here in the wilderness.It might be good to have him back there. And that is part of it. However, I think the main answer, the main reason that David tells him to take the ark, tells them to take the ark of the covenant back, is because he is accepting of the sovereign will of God. And he's doing it with humility. David's response is to essentially resign himself to the will of God. And if he sees the ark again, he knows God has looked favorably on him.And if not, then may God do what seems good to him. In the 1600s, German theology professor Samuel Rodegast wrote a song for his friend who was dying. And the song is called Was Gott tut das ist wohlgetan. Do you got I'll translate that for you for those of you who don't speak German. Whatever my God ordains is right. And one of the verses in this song goes, "Whatever my God ordains is right, he never will deceive me.He leads me by the proper path, I know he will not leave me. I take content what he has sent. His hand can turn my griefs away, and patiently I wait his day." So David resolutely accepts the will of God and he ascends the Mount of Olives weeping and here we see the second aspect of his response. We first see the humble acceptance of the divine will and after that we see him pray. What does he pray?He asks God to make the counsel of Ahithophel foolish. Now, Ahithophel was once David's advisor, but he turned his allegiance toward Absalom. And David here, powerless from a position of humility, asks the Lord to make whatever Ahithophel advises Absalom to be foolish. And we're actually going to see later on that God is going to answer this prayer. But something I want to see is that the two aspects of the response are actually linked together, require each other.Because intrinsic to prayer is humility. It's recognizing that the greatest thing you can possibly do is acknowledge the will of God and the fact that he is ordaining all things. And when you do that, you are going to pray. No, you are. You pray. When you have a heart posture like that, what comes out of it from within you is prayer.Because you finally understand how insignificant you are in affecting outcomes on this earth and you realize that God is sovereign and that God is ordaining all things and you are not God. What happened in Israel when they decided to accomplish their own will? Sexual sin, murder, treachery, it doesn't really go well. And the world around us doesn't really understand this, right? Because what happens when we see tragedies and things like that and people say, "Well, you know, our thoughts and prayers are are with the victims and and the things that have happened, right?" And people just don't like that.They sort of respond back with, "Well, we don't want that. We would rather you do something. We would rather see action. But if you know God and you know your relationship to him and you understand in your heart that what he ordains is right, that what he is doing has a purpose, then you know that the greatest thing you possibly could do would be to pray and to ask him, hey, if it could work out this way, would you change the counsel of Ahithophel to be foolishness? Right? And to commune with God from a position of humility is a really powerful thing.Let's pick back up in verse 32. While David was coming to the summit where God was worshiped, behold, Hushai the Archite came to meet him with his coat torn and dirt on his head. David said to him, "If you go on with me, you will be a burden to me. But if you return to the city and say to Absalom,"I will be your servant, O king, as I have been your father's servant in time past, so now I will be your servant. Then you will defeat for me the counsel of Ahithophel."Are not Zadok and Abiathar the priests with you there? So whatever you hear from the king's house, tell it to Zadok and Abiathar, the priests. Behold, their two sons are with them. Ahimeaz Zadok's son and Jonathan Abiathar's son. And by them you shall send to me everything you hear. So Hushai, David's friend, came into the city just as Absalom was entering Jerusalem.Okay. Here, David tells Hushai, another one of his close friends and counselors, to go back to Jerusalem and act as a spy, essentially to feed information to Zadok and Abiathar, who will through their sons get that information out into the wilderness to David. And so now we finish chapter 15 with David on his way out of Jerusalem. And we begin chapter 16. And as David is out of Jerusalem, Absalom has now entered Jerusalem. Chapter 16 starts, "When David had passed a little beyond the summit, Ziba the servant of Mephibosheth met him with a couple of donkeys saddled bearing 200 loaves of bread, a hundred bunches of raisins, a hundred of summer fruits, and a skin of wine."And the king said to Ziba, "Why have you brought these?" Ziba answered, "The donkeys are for the king's household to ride on, the bread and summer fruit for the young men to eat, and the wine for those who faint in the wilderness to drink." And the king said, "And where is your master's son?" That's Mephibosheth. "Where is your master's son?" Ziba said to the king, "Behold, he remains in Jerusalem, for he said, Today the house of Israel will give me back the kingdom of my father." Then the king said to Ziba, "Behold, all that belonged to Mephibosheth is now yours."And Ziba said, "I pay homage. Let me ever find favor in your sight, my Lord the king." Okay, so back in 2 Samuel 9, we see the first interaction of David with Ziba. And what's happening there is remember David wanted to honor someone of the lineage of his friend Jonathan. And so he wants to find someone of the lineage of Saul. Jonathan was Saul's son.And he wants to honor him. And Ziba says, "Well, actually, Jonathan's son, Mephibosheth, is here." And David says, "Okay, bring him to me." And he brings him and he honors him. And he says, "You're going to always eat at the king's table." And Ziba then after that is made the servant of Mephibosheth.And now where we are, we've got Ziba coming to tell David, "Hey, just so you know, as you were leaving back in Jerusalem, Mephibosheth went ahead and said, "Awesome. Now I'm going to get the kingdom back because David's gone." Like as if the house of Saul is going to now take back the kingdom. And David kind of takes this just at face value. And I don't know if it's because maybe things have not been working out super well for David. So, you know, when you're not having the greatest of time and you hear a piece of information that's not that great, you're like, "Of course, yeah, that's going wrong, too.The car is broken as well." You know, it's that kind of thing where, yeah, Mephibosheth thinks he's going to be king. I guess that's what he wanted all along. I don't know if that's exactly what David's thinking, but he responds by giving what he had originally given to Mephibosheth over to Ziba. But later on, and we're not going to unpack this as much today, in chapter 19, Mephibosheth is going to dispute this.And we're not actually sure if this is what happened. But from David's perspective, he thinks Mephibosheth has also sort of abandoned him and is looking to gain his own kingdom. And he thinks that's another person who probably is not on his side anymore. Verse 5. When King David came to Bahurim, there came out a man of the family of the house of Saul, whose name was Shimei, the son of Gera. And as he came, he cursed continually. And he threw stones at David and at all the servants of King David.And all the people and all the mighty men were on his right hand and on his left. And Shimei said as he cursed, "Get out. Get out. You man of blood, you worthless man. The Lord has avenged on you all the blood of the house of Saul in whose place you have reigned. And the Lord has given the kingdom into the hand of your son Absalom.See, your evil is on you, for you are a man of blood. So Shimei, who is one of Saul's relatives, sees things aren't going very well for David. And as David and his guard and all his people with him are are passing by, he starts flinging stones at him and saying a curse at him. And the text sort of reads this as one man just out there flinging rocks into a crowd of hundreds, thousands at David and cursing at him. And we're told he does this because he resents David for what happened to Saul. In verse 9, you see, then Abishai, the son of Zeruiah, said to the king, "Why should this dead dog curse my Lord the king?Let me go over and take off his head." But the king said, "What have I to do with you, you sons of Zeruiah? If he is cursing because the Lord has said to him, "Curse David, who then shall say, why have you done so?" And David said to Abishai and to all his servants, "Behold, my own son seeks my life. How much more now may this Benjaminite? Leave him alone and let him curse, for the Lord has told him to. It may be that the Lord will look on the wrong done to me, and that the Lord will repay me with good for his cursing today."So David and his men went on the road while Shimei went along on the hillside opposite him and cursed as he went and threw stones at him and flung dust. And the king and all his people who were with him arrived weary at the Jordan and there he refreshed himself. Okay. So Abishai is Joab, the guy who we talked about from last time whose field was burned. He's his brother. So this is another one of David's nephews, one of the children of David's sister.And Abishai, he is not liking this. He does not like what he sees here. This is like, you know, if you're like in high school and maybe you're like having a feud with another person and so like all your friends, they're like shooting that other person dirty looks. Maybe that person's having a party and they're like, "Well, we're not going to go because, you know, our friends are feuding with each other. we're not going to go support that. And then your friend kind of comes up to you and he says, "Look over there at that dead dog. How about I just go bring his head to you?"And you're like, "Whoa." Love the zeal, but no. And so David here tells Abishai, "No." But this isn't the first time that's had to happen because actually back in 1 Samuel, Abishai is with David when David is in the camp of Saul when Saul wants to kill him and Saul is sleeping and David and Abishai are there and see him and Abishai goes let me pin him to the ground with one thrust of the spear and David tells him no and he tells him here no again. So he's being cursed and mocked by Shimei and Abishai will not stand for that.And in his zeal he wants to go kill him. And you know David could have just been like yeah I am so tired of this. I am so sick of this. Go over there and bring me his head. But he does not.Instead, he says, "Let him curse because if God told him to curse, then who are we to question that? And perhaps one day God will look favorably upon it for me." This is David again accepting God's will humbly. He rejects the opportunity to control the outcome by manipulating the circumstances and instead he resigns himself to the will of God. I think that's really hard. And I know some of you feel like you're in the same boat, right?Maybe your mind is three steps ahead of everyone else and you're always trying to engineer the best outcome for yourself, especially if things haven't been going well lately. And so seeing David do this this act of humility is impressive and it's really challenging. We're going to bring our time together with this story to a close today. I want us to look back through some of those themes that we stopped to talk about. You know, we're not kings and queens. We probably will never flee our own homes on foot because of a coup.But a lot of these are reflections of what goes on in people's hearts. And I think some of these things go on in our hearts. First, I want us to reflect on Israel's desire for the king. Their desire to be just like everyone else around them. You know, this was a rejection of God as their king. And we talked about this in 1 Samuel, but now here they are just like everyone else.Because murder and sexual sin and treachery are all just glimpses of what life choosing your own sin and choosing your own will can lead to. And it doesn't ever seem like that. Nobody ever says we want a king and is thinking about a military coup. But yes, sin can take us to the place that we never think we'll go. So where are you tempted to believe these things?Where are you tempted to say that you know better that you desire a king even though that's not what God wants? I mean, I know I'm not supposed to sleep with my boyfriend or girlfriend before we're married, but what's the big deal? I mean, it's just so impractical in this economy anyway to not live together. I mean, I understand that God says I shouldn't lie, but really, honestly, taxes are crazy high, and I don't really believe in them anyway. So, what's a big deal if I count that as a deduction? Where do you think you know better than God?And where will it take you today? Reflect on that and turn from it. You can do it. You can turn from it. You can reject it and obey God, but not in your own willpower. But Romans tells us that we were once slaves to sin, but from a changed heart, we can now obey.You can obey if you have repented of sin and put faith in the gospel because your heart is changed. And only from a changed heart can we obey God. Second, I want us to see the beauty of friendship and the beauty of loyalty. David in one of his darkest hours is surrounded by men who refuse to leave him. So where do we need to be a friend like Ittai the Gittite?Where do we need to say that wherever you will be, I will be, good or bad? Are you sticking it out with your friends? Are you showing it up? Are you showing up when they need you or are you just busy? What do you need to remove from your life so that you can have the space to be there for other people? Some of you have been in rough situations in your life.Some of you are in rough situations and some of you can think of people who have showed up. Some of those people are sitting nearby you in this room. Rejoice in that because guys, you know that's a reflection of God. You know in the book of Hebrews it says that God will never leave us or forsake us. Why? Because he forsook Jesus.And so we are welcomed in a relationship with God that even death cannot sever. And we should reflect that to the friends around us that God has brought in our path. Thirdly, I want us to see David's humble contentment with God's will. We see it in his posture toward the ark of the covenant and in the cursing from Shimei. David accepts whatever God has ordained. And the temptation in times when you're walking a dark road can be to look up at God and say, "No, I am the master of my fate.I am the captain of my soul." And so I ask you today, where are you discontent with what God has sent? work, family, dating, children, health. Remind yourself of his goodness and entrust yourself to him. David ascends the Mount of Olives, weeping, resolved to God's will. And about a thousand years later, a descendant of David will sit at the base of the Mount of Olives in the Garden of Gethsemane. And in grief, he is going to call out to God and say, "Let this cup pass from me."Yet, not as I will, but as you will. And that's Jesus. And that's David's descendant who humbly accepts the will of God and goes to the cross and is punished for sin and he dies and he's buried and he rises again. And because of that, because Jesus has humbly accepted the will of the Father and was crushed, you can humbly accept the will of the Father and live. And the band is going to come back up and we are going to close this morning reflecting on Jesus, on the freedom he brings from our own sinful will and desire, on the relationships that he makes possible for us to have with God and on the example of humble acceptance of the will of God that he showed us on the cross that allows us to accept whatever comes our way.

It's so easy to look at God and come to the conclusion, well I want that part of Him – but not that part. And definitely not that bit. It seems that all too often, we want Him on our terms rather than His. But God just doesn't work that way.   Take it Back Have you ever wanted something in life – I mean really, really, really wanted it and then when you finally get it, you just want to give it back? I think we have all experienced that at some point and you know, I think that for some people, it can be the case with God. I know people, lots of people, who hunger to be close to God. I know there are people listening today – maybe you are one of them – and all their lives they have wanted God – whatever that means. But can I tell you something? Even something really good – I mean really, really good like God, well, it can be a shock to the system and the reason is that we have these idealised, unrealistic notions of what that good thing will be like. Take the young woman who wants more than anything else, to be married and she meets her knight in shining armour, she marries him and a year later she is wondering, "What happened to all my ideas of romance 24/7?" Today on the programme we are going to take a look at some people who got God and couldn't wait to give Him back. Now over these last few weeks we have been working our way through the story of Hannah and Eli and his sons in the Book of First Samuel. And the crux of it is that Hannah honours God but Eli and his sons don't and the turning point of the whole story comes in the verse First Samuel – if you have a Bible, grab it, open it up here in First Samuel chapter 2, verse 30. God says: I will honour those who honour Me but those who despise Me, will be treated with contempt. And we have seen how the central reality of that verse has played itself out in the lives of Hannah, who was blessed when she couldn't have a son and she honoured God and God gave her a son Samuel and the opposite is Eli and his sons Hophni and Phinehas who didn't honour God and were greatly punished, in fact they lost their lives because of that. This story plays its self out in the storms of life. I mean Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, they were the priests; they should have been bringing God's people close to God yet they were living life of Riley, as we saw last week on the programme. And God had them killed. They're job was to bring people close to God and yet they were not honouring Him. Instead they had led Israel to a place of defeat. We saw last week in First Samuel chapter 4 where the Philistines attacked, Israel thinks "Oh well, God is always on our side – we will go to battle" and they had a huge defeat – thirty thousand of their soldiers were killed. The Ark of the Covenant, the presence of God itself, was captured by the Philistines. See the Ark of the Covenant was where God actually sat in the midst of His people. You see that in the journey through the Exodus – forty years in the Tent of the Meeting and later on in the temple. The Ark of the Covenant in the Holy of Holies; it is the very presence of God. And strangely, you know, when the Philistines are close to capturing the Ark they kind of realise, with a sense of foreboding, what this is about. It says in First Samuel that: When they learned that the Ark of the Lord had entered the camp of the Israelites, the Philistines were afraid. "A god has come into their camp" they said "we are in trouble. Nothing like that has ever happened before. Woe to us. Who will deliver us from the hand of these mighty gods?" And so it goes on … Well, it turns out that they should have followed their instincts. Today we are going to look and see what happens to the Philistines and to the Israelites when the presence of God comes close to them. Let's have a look at it. If you've got a Bible, open it up at First Samuel chapter 5, we are going to begin the story at verse 1. After the Philistines had captured the Ark of God, they took it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. Then they carried the Ark into Dagon's temple and set it beside Dagon. When the people of Ashdod rose early the next day, there was Dagon, their god, who had fallen flat on his face on the ground before the Ark of the Lord. They took Dagon and put him back in his place. The following morning when they rose, there was Dagon, fallen on his face on the ground before the Ark of the Lord. His head and hands had been broken off and were lying on the threshold – only his body remained. That is why to this very day, neither the priests of Dagon or any of the others who enter Dagon's temple in Ashdod, step on the threshold. The Lord's hand was heavy upon the people of Ashdod and its vicinity. He brought devastation upon them and afflicted them with tumours. When the men of Ashdod saw what was happening they said "The Ark of the God of Israel mustn't stay here with us because His hand is heavy upon us and upon Dagon our god." So they called together all the rulers of the Philistines and ask them "What are we going to do with this Ark of the God of Israel?" And they answered "Have the Ark of the God of Israel moved to Gath." So they moved the Ark of the God of Israel but after they had moved it, the Lord's hand was against that city, throwing it into great panic. He afflicted the people of the city, both young and old, with an outbreak of tumours so they sent the Ark of God on to Ekron. As the Ark of God was entering Ekron, the people of Ekron cried out "They have brought that Ark of the God of Israel around to kill us and our people." So they called together all the rulers of the Philistines and said "Send that Ark of the God of Israel away. Let it go back to its own place or it will kill us and our people," for death had filled the city with panic and God's hand was very heavy upon it. Those who did not die were afflicted with tumours and the outcry of the city went up to heaven. Do you see? The Philistines looked like they had won and yet they take the presence of God; the Ark of the Covenant, they put it in their temple next to their god and Dagon falls down, face down in front of the God of Israel. And the second time his head and his hands are cut off and then wherever they took the Ark of the Covenant, the impact of God, as a captive in their midst, was devastating – they got tumours, we will see later, there were plagues of mice. They had captured God – in human terms, they had won but you know what they had forgotten, in fact they had never realised it in the first place? God is not subject to people – God is not someone you can capture and stick in your temple. He is not someone you can tame and subdue. Why are we talking about this stuff today? Because you and I, deep down, we try and tame and subdue God – we try and swing Him around to our way of thinking; to meet our needs. We put Him in the temple of our choice; we put Him in the town and the city of our choice. You know what happens when we try to do that? We discover exactly what the Philistines discovered – we discover that God is not someone you can push around. "Well, I'll just take this God and He'll bless me whenever I want Him to." Ok, we can't see Him! Our present circumstances perhaps, appear much more powerful than Him but if we want to have our feet on solid ground, amidst the storms of life, (that's what we have been talking about over these last few weeks) we look at this maelstrom of the storm; the battle between the Philistines and the Israelites – thirty thousand Israelites killed because they didn't honour their God. Who appeared to win? Who should have been, according to our simple human expectations, on solid ground? The Philistines – they won the war. They captured Israel's God but who they captured was the God who created the entire universe – not some idol; not some tin pot little god. They captured God and He wrought destruction upon them because they tried to subdue God. So much so they couldn't wait to get rid of Him. Do you get it? When we try to take God by force – force of argument, force of opinion, force of anything – anything that doesn't recognise Him for who He is – watch out! There are so many people playing "church". There are so many people playing at being Christians; playing at religion, putting God here, putting God there. That's not what it is about. As Dagon found out, the only way you honour God is when you bow down before Him because of who He is – the sovereign God, above every name and every power and every authority in heaven and earth. That's what Hannah discovered; that's what Eli discovered; that's what Israel discovered and that's what the Philistines discovered, the hard way. You can't have God on your own terms. You can only have Him on His terms.   We Don't Want Him Well, the Philistines finally came to their senses. They realised they couldn't have God on their terms. They had a choice – you either accept God on His terms or you get rid of Him. So they decided to send Him back from whence He came. Now, let's have a look at how they did that. We are going to pick this up in First Samuel – grab your Bible – First Samuel chapter 6, beginning at verse 1 – it's a great story. When the Ark of the Lord had been with the Philistines for seven months, they called for the priests and the diviners and they said "What are we going to do with this Ark of the Lord? Tell us how we should send it back to its place." They answered "If you return the Ark of the God of Israel, don't send it away empty, but by all means, send a guilt offering to Him then you will be healed and you will know why His hand has not been lifted from you." The Philistines ask "What guilt offering should we send Him?" and they replied "Five gold tumours and five gold rats, according to the number of Philistine rulers because the same plague has struck both you and your rulers. Make models of the tumours and of the rats that are destroying the country and pay honour to Israel's God. Perhaps He will lift His hand from you and your gods and your land. Why do you harden your hearts as the Egyptians and the Pharaoh did when He treated them harshly, didn't they send the Israelites out so that they could go their way? Now then, get a new cart ready with two cows that have just calved and have never been yoked. Hitch the cows to the cart but take their calves away and pen them up. Take the Ark of the Lord and put it on the cart and in a chest beside it put the gold objects you are sending back to Him as a guilt offering. Send it on its way but keep watching it. If it goes up to its own territory towards Beth-shemesh then the Lord has brought this great disaster on us. But if it doesn't then we will know that it was not His hand that struck us but all this happened just by chance. So they did that – they took two such cows, hitched them to the cart, penned up their calves. They placed the Ark of the Lord on the cart, along with the chest containing the gold rats and the models of the tumours. Then the cows went straight up towards Beth-shemesh, keeping on the road, lowing all the way. They didn't turn to the right or to the left. The rulers of the Philistines followed them as far as the border of Beth-shemesh It is fascinating stuff! See, these people didn't know God – they got their own pagan spiritual leaders to advise them. Now their system of faith was not one God; that's called mono-theism. No, they believed in many gods; they were poly-theistic. And so they see the God of Israel as just another god on their list who may or may not have power. Now, He clearly does because He has brought all of this destruction on the Philistines. So they devise a test for this God. They get these two milk cows, with their calves. You see there is no way two cows that have just calved are going to leave their calves and these cows have never been yoked. So only God could cause them to go back to Israel, away from their young and that is exactly what ends up happening. They don't turn to the right or the left – they are lowing all the way. They don't want to go but they go and clearly this is an act of God. That's how the Philistines saw it. This is a story about so many people in this world who don't know God. See, they hear about God – it's amazing, God is still speaking. The number of times that I have had a letter or an email that says "You know something – I just happened to flick on the radio or turn to a channel and your programme was on and God spoke to me and changed my life." I'm going to share one of those at the end of this programme – an amazing story of a rebel fighter in Africa who laid down his arms. See, God is still speaking today, all over the place, and He reaches out to us and He ends up in our midst, one way or another, as He did with the Philistines. Remember back, how did the presence of God, the Ark of the Covenant, come to be in the midst of the Philistines? The Philistines fought Israel, Israel hadn't honoured their God – they got defeated by the Philistines big time. Eli the priest and his sons, Hophni and Phinehas were killed in that battle. They expected God to show up like He always did, but He didn't. And it was a sovereign act of the sovereign God to allow defeat to come upon Israel and to allow His presence, the Ark of the Covenant to be captured by the Philistines. God's own decision was to be in the midst of the Philistines those seven months. And they discover that you can't have Him on your own terms, so they give Him back – they send Him packing. That's what I did for many, many years of my life. Every now and then I encountered God. And you see I had my own agenda for my life; I had my own plans. God didn't fit so I would send Him packing. And it seemed like He would like to cause me grief and pain; want me to give up things I didn't want to give up. And time and time again I'd want to hang onto Him on my terms. Let me tell you something – it never, never, never worked so I sent Him packing. I rejected Him like the Philistines. I wonder if that has ever happened in your life. Come on, how much do we want God, but on our terms? Well, I believe this about abortion or I believe that about sexuality or I believe this about the different roles of men and women and when I discover what God has to say about those I say to myself "Well, I can't believe that! No, either I have God on my terms or not at all." Come on, there is a reason that God went to the trouble of recording this story about the Philistines and the Ark of the Covenant and then preserving it for a few thousand years and then broadcasting it on this radio station today. There is a reason! He is speaking to us through His story today. To all those people who would have God on their own terms, He is saying "No, you can't have Me on your terms. You can't capture Me and stick Me in your temple. You can only have Me on My terms." And as we are going to see soon, this problem was not reserved for the Philistines – it's not just for the people who didn't really know God but it was also for God's own people – God's own people who would push Him away. This series that we are going through is called "On Solid Ground". We need solid ground beneath our feet and we are going to discover next, exactly how to get it.   When Will We Learn? As I said earlier, the problem wasn't just restricted to the Philistines, sending God packing with those cows with the Ark of the Covenant in tow – it was also a problem that happened with the Israelites. Let's see what happened when the Ark of the Covenant arrives back with Israel - First Samuel chapter 6, beginning at verse 19. The Ark has just wandered down the road with the cows and this is what happened: God struck down some of the men of Beth-shemesh, putting seventy of them to death because they had looked into the Ark of the Lord. The people mourned because of the heavy blow the Lord had dealt them and the men of Beth-shemesh asked "Who can stand in the presence of the Lord, this holy God? To whom will the Ark go up from here?" Then they sent messengers to the people of Kiriath-jearim, saying "The Philistines have returned the Ark of the Lord, come down and take it up to your place." So the men of Kiriath-jearim came and took up the Ark of the Lord. They took it to Abinadab's house on the hill and consecrated Eleazar, the son to guard the Ark of the Lord. See, God is a sovereign God. We get Him on His terms and not ours. And the Israelites dealt casually with God's presence when He came back – they looked upon Him. Now God says "You can't look upon Me and live." How often do we treat the mighty sovereign casually? You and I – we take on God. Can I tell you who is going to win? Not us! Israel was God's people – they should have known better but they didn't. So what was their reaction? The same as the Philistines – "Who can stand in front of this sovereign God. Where are we going to send Him?" They sent God packing and it's a pattern repeated over and over and over again. So what is the answer? What these people needed was some solid ground beneath their feet. What you and I need is some solid ground beneath our feet. Well, that comes next in this story – it's exactly what happened. First Samuel chapter 7, verse 2: It was a long time, twenty years in all, that the Ark remained a Kiriath-jearim and all the people of Israel mourned and sought after the Lord and Samuel the prophet, said to the whole house of Israel "If you are returning to the Lord with all your hearts, then rid yourselves of the foreign gods and the Ashtoreths and commit yourselves to the Lord and serve Him alone and He will deliver you from the hand of the Philistines. So the Israelites put away their Baals and their Ashtoreths and they served the Lord alone. And then Samuel said "Assemble all Israel at Mizpah and I will intercede with the Lord for you." When they had assembled at Mizpah they drew water and poured it out before the Lord. On that day they fasted and they confessed "We have sinned against the Lord." And Samuel was the leader of Israel at Mizpah. When the Philistines heard that Israel had assembled at Mizpah, the rulers of the Philistines came up to attack them and when the Israelites heard of it they were afraid because of the Philistines. They said to Samuel "Don't stop crying out to the Lord our God for us, that He may rescue us from the hand of the Philistines." So Samuel took a suckling lamb, offering it up as a whole burnt offering to the Lord. He cried out to the Lord on Israel's behalf and the Lord answered him. Whilst Samuel was still sacrificing the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to engage Israel in battle but that day the Lord thundered with a loud thunder against the Philistines and threw them into such a panic that they were routed before Israel. The men of Israel rushed out of Mizpah and pursued the Philistines, slaughtering them along the way to a point below Beth-car. Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen and he named it Ebenezer, saying "Thus far the Lord has helped us." So the Philistines were subdued and did not invade Israelite territory again. Throughout Samuel's lifetime, the hand of the Lord was against the Philistines. From the towns of Ekron to Gath – that the Philistines had captured from Israel - they were restored to Israel and Israel delivered the neighbouring territory from the power of the Philistines and there was peace between Israel and the Amorites. First Samuel chapter 2, verse 30 says this: I will honour those who honour Me but those who despise Me will be treated with contempt. See, that's the place of solid ground – Israel finally got it right here! See, before they had had priests who were sleeping around with prostitutes, priests who were dishonouring God, priests who were plundering the sacrifices of the people to God and God said, "You know something? If your leaders are going to be doing that I am not going to bless you." So Israel fights the Philistines and Israel loses. And so the Ark of the Covenant of God goes to the Philistines and there is devastation there because of the presence of God and they send it back to Israel. And there is devastation there because of the presence of God because everyone was trying to have God on their own terms. Here is the place of solid ground: If you want to return to the Lord with all your heart, put away all your foreign gods. And that is God's Word for you and me today. Put away all your foreign gods – all the other things that you put before God – all the other things that you and I worship – put them away and worship God alone. Come to God on His terms, not ours, because He is the sovereign God. He is the God of the whole universe. He is the God – not just one other god amongst many – He is THE God; the only God and He calls us to worship Him and Him alone. So the people did that and right at the moment they did that, the Philistines were going to attack them again, but this time, the moment they began to honour their God – this verse First Samuel chapter 2, verse 30 – came into their experience. I will honour those who honour Me, but those who despise Me will be treated with contempt. People – that is the place of solid ground. It is the only place of solid ground. God is a sovereign God. He is not my performing puppy and He is not your performing puppy. He is not there to do tricks on our command. He is above us and we are His people and God is calling us today to accept Him on His terms as the sovereign God – just the way Samuel told the people. Samuel said to them "You have got to accept God on His terms" – they did and immediately, when a storm arose, God blessed His people. And that blessing went on for many, many years and their feet were on solid ground.

What third tribe does the Chronicler especially honor? 1Chronicles 8 looks forward to the hearing of God's Word, publicly read, in the holy assembly on the coming Lord's Day. In these forty verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that, in addition to royal Judah, and priestly Levi, the Chronicler honored faithful Benjamin. The passage from 1 Chronicles 8 highlights the faithful continuity of the tribe of Benjamin, emphasizing their unwavering allegiance to Judah and the Davidic line, particularly through their settlement in Jerusalem. While Judah and Levi are also prominently featured for their roles in the royal and priestly offices, Benjamin's significance lies in their loyalty during the nation's division, symbolizing steadfast commitment to God's chosen center of worship. The chronicler uses geography—tracing movements from Geba and Gath to Jerusalem—to underscore this faithfulness, culminating in the statement that these leaders dwelt in Jerusalem, alongside their relatives, affirming their dedication to God's presence. This genealogical emphasis ultimately points to Christ, the eternal King and High Priest, while affirming that faithfulness in the midst of spiritual decline is honorable before God. The devotional calls believers to remain loyal to Christ and His ordained means of access, even when the broader church strays, honoring the quiet faithfulness of those who cling to Jesus alone.

Then all the people of Judah took Uzziah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king in the room of his father Amaziah.2 He built Eloth, and restored it to Judah, after that the king slept with his fathers.3 Sixteen years old was Uzziah when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty and two years in Jerusalem. His mother's name also was Jecoliah of Jerusalem.4 And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father Amaziah did.5 And he sought God in the days of Zechariah, who had understanding in the visions of God: and as long as he sought the Lord, God made him to prosper.6 And he went forth and warred against the Philistines, and brake down the wall of Gath, and the wall of Jabneh, and the wall of Ashdod, and built cities about Ashdod, and among the Philistines.7 And God helped him against the Philistines, and against the Arabians that dwelt in Gurbaal, and the Mehunims.8 And the Ammonites gave gifts to Uzziah: and his name spread abroad even to the entering in of Egypt; for he strengthened himself exceedingly.9 Moreover Uzziah built towers in Jerusalem at the corner gate, and at the valley gate, and at the turning of the wall, and fortified them.10 Also he built towers in the desert, and digged many wells: for he had much cattle, both in the low country, and in the plains: husbandmen also, and vine dressers in the mountains, and in Carmel: for he loved husbandry.11 Moreover Uzziah had an host of fighting men, that went out to war by bands, according to the number of their account by the hand of Jeiel the scribe and Maaseiah the ruler, under the hand of Hananiah, one of the king's captains.12 The whole number of the chief of the fathers of the mighty men of valour were two thousand and six hundred.13 And under their hand was an army, three hundred thousand and seven thousand and five hundred, that made war with mighty power, to help the king against the enemy.14 And Uzziah prepared for them throughout all the host shields, and spears, and helmets, and habergeons, and bows, and slings to cast stones.15 And he made in Jerusalem engines, invented by cunning men, to be on the towers and upon the bulwarks, to shoot arrows and great stones withal. And his name spread far abroad; for he was marvellously helped, till he was strong.16 But when he was strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruction: for he transgressed against the Lord his God, and went into the temple of the Lord to burn incense upon the altar of incense.17 And Azariah the priest went in after him, and with him fourscore priests of the Lord, that were valiant men:18 And they withstood Uzziah the king, and said unto him, It appertaineth not unto thee, Uzziah, to burn incense unto the Lord, but to the priests the sons of Aaron, that are consecrated to burn incense: go out of the sanctuary; for thou hast trespassed; neither shall it be for thine honour from the Lord God.19 Then Uzziah was wroth, and had a censer in his hand to burn incense: and while he was wroth with the priests, the leprosy even rose up in his forehead before the priests in the house of the Lord, from beside the incense altar.20 And Azariah the chief priest, and all the priests, looked upon him, and, behold, he was leprous in his forehead, and they thrust him out from thence; yea, himself hasted also to go out, because the Lord had smitten him.21 And Uzziah the king was a leper unto the day of his death, and dwelt in a several house, being a leper; for he was cut off from the house of the Lord: and Jotham his son was over the king's house, judging the people of the land.22 Now the rest of the acts of Uzziah, first and last, did Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, write.23 So Uzziah slept with his fathers, and they buried him with his fathers in the field of the burial which belonged to the kings; for they said, He is a leper: and Jotham his son reigned in his stead.

Exodus Lesson 71 Part 2 In Exod. 31:13 it says … “But as for you, speak to the sons of Israel, saying, 'You shall surely observe My sabbaths; for this is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the LORD who sanctifies you.” (Exo 31:13) The word BUT is the Hebrew word ACH (אַךְ H389) meaning “never the less, or none the less, or but, or surely and more.  It is as if God is saying “What came before is very important but what comes now is even more important that all that has come before, so, Moses, speak to the sons of Israel … “  The Sabbath, the Lord's Sabbath, His Shabbat in Hebrew is  more important than all that has come before.  More important than all the instruction and all the detail about God's Tabernacle and the dress of the High Priest and the Priests starting in chapter 25.  More important that the induction ceremony of the Aaron and his sons.  It seems God is saying it is more important than when Moses first went up Sinai to receive the Ten Commandments.  He's been there since and in v. 18 he gets the two tablets from the Lord and this ends his stay of 40 days and nights on Sinai.  It seems that the Shabbat is more important than everything back to chapter 20!  That was when God gave Moses the Ten Commandments, the Lord's Covenant.  Shabbat is bigger than all this.  On our YouTube channel I have a “playlist” series I did on the Lord's Shabbat, or the Sabbath.  It is incumbent on us, true disciples of Messiah, to know about Jesus' Shabbat, God's Shabbat.  We'll find that it is the most important of the Lord's feasts.  LINK to the Shabbat playlist - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05bc07ssllo&list=PLvcIXun2BQDLshZetXi0avkG665YNcI5I And now here in Exod. 31:12-18 we see the Shabbat is called a SIGN (אוֹת – “oat”) and it is called the covenant of Shabbat.  It is given to man and not man given to shabbat.  But the Hebrews are the Bride.  Just like in a contemporary religious Jewish wedding, only the bride gets a ring.  So, only the bride gets the Shabbat, God's ring, the sign or אוֹת – “oat” of the covenant.  But Jesus is our Bridegroom, our future “husband” and He asked us to keep His commandments and the greatest feast of the Lord is the Sabbath of THE SHABBAT.  And Jesus said do it to show me our love!  (Joh 14:15)  "If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.”  The shabbat is like our ring as we are betrothed to our Bridegroom, our Yeshua, our Jesus.  We do His Sabbath to tell Him we love Him and to use it as a testimony to the world of God and His Salvation.  How dare us say we can Shabbat on any day we want.  It is NOT about onl rest.  It is about the Lord's Shabbat to testify He is and He is the creator of the universe and He brings His salvation to all of us both Jew and Gentile.  We do Shabbat on God's designated day to testify of Him. Rev. Ferret - who is this guy?  (Ferret - visiting ancient Gath in Israel.  Didn't see Goliath though!) What's his background?  Why should I listen to him?  Check his background at this link - https://www.dropbox.com/s/ortnret3oxcicu4/BackgrndTeacher%20mar%2025%202020.pdf?dl=0    

In this Bible Story, Saul pursues David's life and David once again has the opportunity to end Saul. Yet David spares Saul, and Saul once again repents and leaves David's presence.This story is inspired by 1 Samuel 26-27. Go to BibleinaYear.com and learn the Bible in a Year.Today's Bible verse is 1 Samuel 26:7 from the King James Version.Episode 92: Once again, Saul has given in to his hatred and is hunting David. As Saul camped in the wilderness, David was once again given the opportunity to kill Saul, this time in his sleep. But he chooses mercy and calls out to Abner and Saul, chiding Abner and reasoning with Saul. Saul promised to leave him alone, but David, knowing better, fled to the land of Israel's enemies, gaining favor with Achish, king of Gath.Hear the Bible come to life as Pastor Jack Graham leads you through the official BibleinaYear.com podcast. This Biblical Audio Experience will help you master wisdom from the world's greatest book. In each episode, you will learn to apply Biblical principles to everyday life. Now understanding the Bible is easier than ever before; enjoy a cinematic audio experience full of inspirational storytelling, orchestral music, and profound commentary from world-renowned Pastor Jack Graham.Also, you can download the Pray.com app for more Christian content, including Daily Prayers, Inspirational Testimonies, and Bedtime Bible Stories.Visit JackGraham.org for more resources on how to tap into God's power for successful Christian living.Pray.com is the digital destination of faith. With over 5,000 daily prayers, meditations, bedtime stories, and cinematic stories inspired by the Bible, the Pray.com app has everything you need to keep your focus on the Lord. Make Prayer a priority and download the #1 App for Prayer and Sleep today in the Apple App Store or Google Play Store.Executive Producers: Steve Gatena & Max BardProducer: Ben GammonHosted by: Pastor Jack GrahamMusic by: Andrew Morgan SmithBible Story narration by: Todd Haberkorn Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Exodus Lesson 71 Part 1 In Hebrew Genesis 2:3 has a unique Hebrew grammatical construction only found here in chapter 2 verse 3.  The Hebrew translated direct from the Hebrew is that “God ceased from creating all his work that God created TO DO.”  This seems to suggest that the Lord stopped creating work to be accomplished in the future work.  Hebrew scholars such as Ibn Ezra (1092-1167 A.D.) and Radak (1160-1235 A.D.), noted that the Hebrew phrase that God created a world that was complete in its foundation but designed to have its full potential realized through time, partly through the stewardship of humanity. In other words it seems possible that God has created work for the future for Himself, His people like Moses, David, Isaiah, and of course Jesus and US!!  It is a very interesting valid alternative translation of Gen. 2:3.  (See “JPS Torah Commentary: Genesis.  Nahum Sarna.  © 1989.  The Jewish Publication Society.  Jerusalem, Philadelphia, and New York) Ask many Christians today how they are saved and they would tell you they are saved by GRACE and not by WORKS.  They are right.  This is the very words of God found in Eph. 2:8-9.  But, what we miss is this is a Jewish concept and understood quite clearly among religious Jews in Jesus' day.  Consider the Hebrew words Chen (grace/favor) and Chesed (lovingkindness) which represent God's unmerited favor and mercy shown to individuals and the nation, rather than just earning salvation through works. Hebrew Origins: The concept of grace (chen - found 69 times in the Tanakh) emphasizes God's unmerited favor, such as when Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Grace is then connected to Torah often expressed in Judaism as "saved by grace, led by Torah," or God's instruction and not law.  It is seen as a gift that frees individuals to walk in God's ways out of love, not just for merit.  Here's a number of websites to check it out and go deeper in your understanding and study. https://www.myjewishlearning.com/2013/05/21/rescuing-grace/ https://hoshanarabbah.org/blog/2016/02/26/concept-of-grace/ https://free.messianicbible.com/feature/grace-enough/ In this podcast we will study Eph. 2:10.  The verse that most Christians forget.  They stop at verse 9 when they quote Eph. 2:8-9.  They tell us that works don't matter.  But, they do not read THE VERY WORDS OF GOD in verse 10.  We are sved by grace not by works to then become God's workmanship to do good WORKS!!  Thus, the Lord is telling us, the mark of a true Christian is once they are saved they do work given to them by the Father.  Works God created for us in Gen. 2:3.   Many of our Bibles say that Jesus was a carpenter as we find in Matt. 16:18 or Mark 6:3.  But, few study the Greek word that carpenter translates.  I never heard on pastor teach on this.  Not one.  The Greek word is TEKTON. It is a broad term for a craftsman, artisan, or builder, often used specifically for a woodworker or carpenter. Tekton refers to a skilled worker who constructs with various materials, including wood and stone.  Shown below are a few websites to check this out https://biblehub.com/greek/5045.htm https://www.billmounce.com/greek-dictionary/tekton https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tekt%C5%8Dn This Greek word tekton in the Septuagint translates the Hebrew word CHARASH חָרָשׁ H2796.  The meaning in Hebrew is artisan or craftsman whose trained hands shape wood, stone, metal, or precious gems or any material.  Thus, since there was NO New Testament in Jesus'day, only the Hebrew Scriptures, we can confidently say Jesus was not only a carpenter but construction worker.   And as B'zal'el and Oholee-av were to lead a group of CHRASHEEM to build God's Dwelling Place, our Jesus, who is a CHRASH, will build His congregation.  And this congregation will be like ONE TEMPLE, one place where God dwells.  I can't make this up.  The connections are too awesome. These two words in the podcast, TEKTON and CHARASH, were related to the Hebrew phrase tikkun olam (pronounced taykoon olam) תיקון עולם originating in the Mishnah meaning “to fix everything.”  Reform Judaism states that tikkun olam has evolved from a purely spiritual, concept into a mandate for social action, social justice, and environmentalism.  Dennis Prager, a famous conservative talk show host and scholar, who is also a deeply religious Jew, feels that tikkun oal as social justice shows why so many American Jews are democrats.  Some other modern Jewish interpretations suggest that in the absence of a single, personal Messiah, humanity itself (as a collective) is responsible for being the "Messiah" by performing acts of kindness to heal the world.  This results in the general concept in contemporary Judaism that repairing the world is ONLY through human effort to usher in a future Messianic era.  This clearly is not the view in Christianity.  Christians hold to the fact that the Messiah (Jesus) has come to begin this restoration, with a future return for a final, complete, restoration and renewal of the entire universe. The Christian view seems to be more correct.  The phrase tikkun olam appears in the Jewish prayer in the 2nd paragraph called Ahlaynoo עָלֵינוּ – meaning it is against us, on us, or incumbent on us.  This prayer may have been written in Jesus' day.  It first appears in the Mishnah is the 3rd century A.D.  Clearly, the prayer says God will fix everything and perfect the world.  Today in religious Jews seemed to have abandoned the idea that God does tikkun olam.  This is clear in the prayer and in the Hebrew Scriptures. There is nothing in the prayer or in God's word that says Messiah will come only if mankind does tikkun olam.  Shown below is the prayer. סידור אשכנז, ימי חול, תפילת שחרית, סיום תפילה, עלינו א׳ עָלֵֽינוּ לְשַׁבֵּֽחַ לַאֲדוֹן הַכֹּל, לָתֵת גְּדֻלָּה לְיוֹצֵר בְּרֵאשִׁית. שֶׁלֺּא עָשָֽׂנוּ כְּגוֹיֵי הָאֲרָצוֹת, וְלֺא שָׂמָֽנוּ כְּמִשְׁפְּחוֹת הָאֲדָמָה; שֶׁלֺּא שָׂם חֶלְקֵֽנוּ כָּהֶם, וְגוֹרָלֵֽנוּ כְּכָל הֲמוֹנָם. שֶׁהֵם מִשְׁתַּחֲוִים לָהֶֽבֶל וָרִיק וּמִתְפַּלְּלִים אֶל אֵל לֹא יוֹשִֽׁיעַ. וַאֲנַֽחְנוּ כּוֹרְעִים וּמִשְׁתַּחֲוִים וּמוֹדִים לִפְנֵי מֶֽלֶךְ מַלְכֵי הַמְּלָכִים, הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא. שֶׁהוּא נוֹטֶה שָׁמַֽיִם וְיוֹסֵד אָֽרֶץ, וּמוֹשַׁב יְקָרוֹ בַּשָּׁמַֽיִם מִמַּֽעַל, וּשְׁכִינַת עֻזּוֹ בְּגָבְהֵי מְרוֹמִים; הוּא אֱלֺהֵֽינוּ, אֵין עוֹד. אֱמֶת מַלְכֵּֽנוּ, אֶֽפֶס זוּלָתוֹ, כַּכָּתוּב בְּתוֹרָתוֹ: וְיָדַעְתָּ הַיּוֹם וַהֲשֵׁבֹתָ אֶל לְבָבֶֽךָ כִּי יְהֹוָה הוּא הָאֱלֺהִים בַּשָּׁמַֽיִם מִמַּֽעַל וְעַל הָאָֽרֶץ מִתָּֽחַת, אֵין עוֹד. TRANSLATED: It is our obligation (incumbent on us or AHLAYNO עָלֵֽינוּ) to praise the Master of all, to ascribe greatness to the Creator of the [world in the] beginning: that He has not made us like the nations of the lands, and has not positioned us like the families of the earth; that He has not assigned our portion like theirs, nor our lot like that of all their multitudes. For they prostrate themselves to vanity and nothingness, and pray to a god that cannot deliver. But we bow, prostrate ourselves, and offer thanks before the Supreme King of Kings, the Holy One blessed is He, Who spreads the heavens, and establishes the earth, and the seat of His glory is in heaven above, and the abode of His invincible might is in the loftiest heights. He is our God, there is nothing else. Our King is true, all else is insignificant, as it is written in His Torah: And You shall know this day and take into Your heart that Adonoy is God in the heavens above and upon the earth below; there is nothing else. סידור אשכנז, ימי חול, תפילת שחרית, סיום תפילה, עלינו ב׳ עַל כֵּן נְקַוֶּה לְךָ, יְהֹוָה אֱלֺהֵֽינוּ, לִרְאוֹת מְהֵרָה בְּתִפְאֶֽרֶת עֻזֶּֽךָ, לְהַעֲבִיר גִּלּוּלִים מִן הָאָֽרֶץ וְהָאֱלִילִים כָּרוֹת יִכָּרֵתוּן; לְתַקֵּן עוֹלָם בְּמַלְכוּת שַׁדַּי. וְכָל בְּנֵי בָשָׂר יִקְרְאוּ בִשְׁמֶֽךָ, לְהַפְנוֹת אֵלֶֽיךָ כָּל רִשְׁעֵי אָֽרֶץ. יַכִּֽירוּ וְיֵדְעוּ כָּל יוֹשְׁבֵי תֵבֵל כִּי לְךָ תִכְרַע כָּל בֶּֽרֶךְ, תִּשָּׁבַע כָּל לָשׁוֹן. לְפָנֶֽיךָ, יְהֹוָה אֱלֺהֵֽינוּ, יִכְרְעוּ וְיִפֹּֽלוּ, וְלִכְבוֹד שִׁמְךָ יְקָר יִתֵּֽנוּ, וִיקַבְּלוּ כֻלָּם אֶת עֹל מַלְכוּתֶֽךָ, וְתִמְלֺךְ עֲלֵיהֶם מְהֵרָה לְעוֹלָם וָעֶד. כִּי הַמַּלְכוּת שֶׁלְּךָ הִיא, וּלְעֽוֹלְמֵי עַד תִּמְלוֹךְ בְּכָבוֹד, כַּכָּתוּב בְּתוֹרָתֶֽךָ: יְהֹוָה יִמְלֺךְ לְעֹלָם וָעֶד. וְנֶאֱמַר, וְהָיָה יְהֹוָה לְמֶֽלֶךְ עַל כָּל הָאָֽרֶץ; בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא יִהְיֶה יְהֹוָה אֶחָד וּשְׁמוֹ אֶחָד: TRANSLATED: We therefore put our hope in You, Adonoy our God, to soon behold the glory of Your might in banishing idolatry from the earth, and the false gods will be utterly exterminated to perfect the world (that is לְתַקֵּן עוֹלָם or Leh Taykoon Olam) as the kingdom of Shadai. And all mankind will invoke Your Name, to turn back to You, all the wicked of the earth. They will realize and know, all the inhabitants of the world, that to You, every knee must bend, every tongue must swear [allegiance to You]. Before You, Adonoy, our God, they will bow and prostrate themselves, and to the glory of Your Name give honor. And they will all accept [upon themselves] the yoke of Your kingdom, and You will reign over them, soon, forever and ever. For the kingdom is Yours, and to all eternity You will reign in glory, as it is written in Your Torah: Adonoy will reign forever and ever. And it is said: And Adonoy will be King over the whole earth; on that day Adonoy will be One and His Name One.  (Accessed at www.sefaria.org) Rev. Ferret - who is this guy?  (Ferret - visiting ancient Gath in Israel.  Didn't see Goliath though!) What's his background?  Why should I listen to him?  Check his background at this link - https://www.dropbox.com/s/ortnret3oxcicu4/BackgrndTeacher%20mar%2025%202020.pdf?dl=0    

In this Bible Story, David escapes from Saul and has to lie to priests, pretend to be insane to kings, and escape to caves in order to preserve his life. However, God continued to bless David. Outcasts, misfits, and debtors from Israel began to band around him. This story is inspired by 1 Samuel 21-22. Go to BibleinaYear.com and learn the Bible in a Year.Today's Bible verse is 1 Samuel 21:5 from the King James Version.Episode 89: David made his way to Nob, the city of priests, and Ahimelech came to meet him and asked why he was there. David quickly told Ahimelech what he needed to hear and asked for food to sustain him on his journey. He asked for a sword and Ahimelech gifted him the sword of Goliath that he had used so many years ago. After this, David fled quickly to Gath knowing that Saul would be hot on his tail. But Gath wasn't safe for him either and so he fled again to a cave in Adullam where he would praise God and write Psalms in the midst of his suffering. Hear the Bible come to life as Pastor Jack Graham leads you through the official BibleinaYear.com podcast. This Biblical Audio Experience will help you master wisdom from the world's greatest book. In each episode, you will learn to apply Biblical principles to everyday life. Now understanding the Bible is easier than ever before; enjoy a cinematic audio experience full of inspirational storytelling, orchestral music, and profound commentary from world-renowned Pastor Jack Graham.Also, you can download the Pray.com app for more Christian content, including, Daily Prayers, Inspirational Testimonies, and Bedtime Bible Stories.Visit JackGraham.org for more resources on how to tap into God's power for successful Christian living.Pray.com is the digital destination of faith. With over 5,000 daily prayers, meditations, bedtime stories, and cinematic stories inspired by the Bible, the Pray.com app has everything you need to keep your focus on the Lord. Make Prayer a priority and download the #1 App for Prayer and Sleep today in the Apple app store or Google Play store.Executive Producers: Steve Gatena & Max BardProducer: Ben GammonHosted by: Pastor Jack GrahamMusic by: Andrew Morgan SmithBible Story narration by: Todd Haberkorn Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

APR. 22, 2026Raise the bar."Jonathan..David's brother, killed him."2Sa 21:21 NIVAfter David killed Goliath, four other men, including his nephew Jonathan, killed giants that rose up against the Israelites. "In still another battle, which took place at Gath, there was a huge man with six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot— twenty-four in all. He was also descended from Rapha. When he taunted Israel, Jonathan son of Shimeah, David's brother, killed him" (2Sa 21:20-21 NIV). David had raised the bar. Witnessing the defeat of what others had previously deemed impossible gave them the strength to overcome their own giants. Until 1954, no one had ever run a mile in under four minutes, and most people assumed it was virtually impossible. But on May 6, 1954, at an Oxford University track meet, Roger Bannister completed the distance in 3 minutes and 59.4 seconds. He had slain the giant. Two months later, Australian John Landy broke Bannister's record, proving that the four-minute mile was as much a psychological as a physical barrier. In the first half of the twentieth century, many people attempted to climb Mount Everest and failed. It was the unconquerable giant in the world of mountain climbers. On May 29, 1953, Edmund Hillary and his Sherpa guide, Tenzing Norgay, were the first humans to reach the summit. Since then, over seven thousand climbers, ranging from age thirteen to eighty, have completed the expedition. David, Bannister, and Hillary all conquered giants of their day and inspired others to match and excel in their feats. You do yourself and others a disservice when you run from your giant. You need to stop being afraid to tackle hard tasks and remind yourself, "If God did it before, He can do it again, and if He did it for others, He can do it for me."Raise the bar Stop being afraid.Share This DevotionalSend us Fan MailSupport the showChanging Lives | Building Strong Family | Impacting Our Community For Jesus Christ!

Fr. Mike reflects on King Saul's despair in the face of trial, and how he seeks other means of comfort when he feels like God has abandoned him. God never abandons us, especially in the midst of danger. Fr. Mike invites us to place our trust in God's promise, instead of resorting to sinful acts. Today's readings are 1 Samuel 27-28 and Psalm 34. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/bibleinayear. Please note: The Bible contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.

Experience the "Diary of a Madman" as we explore Psalm 56 and David's desperate flight to the city of Gath. Learn how faith doesn't require fearlessness, but rather the honesty to trust God even while the spit is on your beard and the walls are closing in.

"David, though the Lord's anointed king, is driven into exile, rejected by his own people, and forced into the wilderness. Yet in this very humiliation, he becomes a powerful picture of Christ—the suffering Messiah who protects His people in their pilgrimage through this fallen world.In this sermon on 1 Samuel 21:10–22:5, we explore David's flight to Gath, his faith in the midst of fear, and the gathering of the distressed to him in the cave of Adullam. These wilderness scenes foreshadow Jesus Christ, the greater David, who gathers weary sinners to Himself and keeps them safe as elect exiles on the way to the heavenly kingdom.The church today is that same distressed company in the wilderness—finding refuge not in the power of the world, but in the rejected yet reigning Messiah.#1Samuel #David #JesusChrist #Sermon #ReformedPreaching #BiblicalTheology #ChristInTheOldTestament #SufferingServant #Wilderness #ChristianLiving"

And it came to pass, that after the year was expired, at the time that kings go out to battle, Joab led forth the power of the army, and wasted the country of the children of Ammon, and came and besieged Rabbah. But David tarried at Jerusalem. And Joab smote Rabbah, and destroyed it.2 And David took the crown of their king from off his head, and found it to weigh a talent of gold, and there were precious stones in it; and it was set upon David's head: and he brought also exceeding much spoil out of the city.3 And he brought out the people that were in it, and cut them with saws, and with harrows of iron, and with axes. Even so dealt David with all the cities of the children of Ammon. And David and all the people returned to Jerusalem.4 And it came to pass after this, that there arose war at Gezer with the Philistines; at which time Sibbechai the Hushathite slew Sippai, that was of the children of the giant: and they were subdued.5 And there was war again with the Philistines; and Elhanan the son of Jair slew Lahmi the brother of Goliath the Gittite, whose spear staff was like a weaver's beam.6 And yet again there was war at Gath, where was a man of great stature, whose fingers and toes were four and twenty, six on each hand, and six on each foot and he also was the son of the giant.7 But when he defied Israel, Jonathan the son of Shimea David's brother slew him.8 These were born unto the giant in Gath; and they fell by the hand of David, and by the hand of his servants.

https://www.patreon.com/AdeptusRidiculoushttps://www.adeptusridiculous.com/https://twitter.com/AdRidiculoushttps://shop.orchideight.com/collections/adeptus-ridiculousIn the grand finale of the Dark Imperium trilogy, Roboute Guilliman is having a spectacularly bad time. Not only is he forced into a miserable reunion with his stinky brother Mortarion, but he's also dodging fanatic priests and dealing with Ku'Gath's ultimate weapon: the Godblight.Things get so bad that Guilliman actually dies, only to have a lovely chat with the Emperor, who kindly reminds him that he is nothing more than a tool, a number, and a weapon. Truly, the "#1 Dad" of the 41st Millennium.Support the show

In this powerful episode of The Voice Podcast, Bishop Mark Brown unpacks the journey from Gath to the crown—revealing how God uses unexpected places and difficult seasons to prepare us for destiny. Before David ever wore the crown, he found himself in Gath—the territory of the enemy, a place of pressure, hiding, and survival. Yet even there, God was shaping his character, refining his mindset, and positioning him for rulership. This message reveals a powerful truth: Your process is not punishment—it is preparation. From caves to conflict, from obscurity to opportunity, every step was necessary for David to become the king God called him to be. If you've ever felt like you're in a place that doesn't match your promise, this episode will remind you: God may hide you in systems that do not celebrate you—only to protect what He plans to reveal later.- Bishop Brown  This is your moment to understand the process, embrace the pressure, and prepare for the promise. Because the same God who allows the process… is the God who appoints the crown.

https://www.patreon.com/AdeptusRidiculoushttps://www.adeptusridiculous.com/https://twitter.com/AdRidiculoushttps://shop.orchideight.com/collections/adeptus-ridiculousRoboute Guilliman has officially had enough, and the Avenging Son is about to deliver the ultimate crashout. In this episode, we dive deep into the absolute madness of Dark Imperium: Plague Wars. Nurgle's forces are making a mess of Parmenio, with Ku'Gath stressing over his favour with Nurgle, and Mortarion dropping in from the toxic fog to challenge his brother.Meanwhile, things on the Imperial side are getting weird. A mysterious girl named Kaylia is manifesting Living Saint powers, Sister Iolanth is going rogue and bodying Sisters of Silence, and Frater Mathieu is pushing Guilliman to his absolute breaking point.Support the show

In this passage, David is running for his life and ends up in Gath; the very place where his enemies live. To escape, he does something unexpected: he pretends to be insane. It's not a moment of strength, but a moment of weakness that God still uses to preserve him. Following God doesn't always look impressive or logical. Sometimes obedience in the middle of fear looks strange to the world. But faith means learning to follow Christ through fear rather than letting fear control us. The real question is: What are you doing with your fear? Will you trust God through it like David, or be ruled by it like Saul?

A – About: This passage focuses on David fleeing from Saul and seeking refuge with Achish, king of Gath. In desperation, David pretends to be insane to preserve his life. The emphasis is not on imitation of David's behavior, but on God's sovereign protection even when His servant makes fearful and questionable decisions. B – Best Verse: 1 Samuel 21:13–14 — David feigns madness before Achish, resulting in his dismissal rather than execution. C – Called to Do: We are called to trust God's providence in fearful and uncertain moments. Rather than imitating David's actions, we rest in the truth that God is sovereign, protective, and faithful—even when our judgment falters.

How do you respond when the giant turns out to be something that you created?Questions for the Road:1. In what ways do you personally “Run to Gath” in seasons of pain, exhaustion or stress?2. Where are you right now: In the battle, running or in need of sitting by the Brook Besor?3. Based on your responses to the previous questions, what is the Welcome of God that He is inviting me into?

2607 - From Shiloh to Ashdod to Gath to Kiriath Jearim and the Jerusalem tunnels beneath Jerusalem, the Bearded Bible Brothers retrace the steps of the Ark of the Covenant to uncover its final resting place. Is the discovery of the Ark integral to the construction of the Third Temple? Joshua and Caleb search the scriptures to find out!

Fear can push us into places we never planned to go and make us act in ways we never expected. In this message, we look at David's darkest detour—when fear drove him away from Gath and into desperation—yet praise never left his lips. All Times Means These Times reminds us that worship isn't reserved for the good moments, but is forged in the middle of fear, confusion, and uncertainty. Even here, God is worthy.

Today's life changing message by Bishop Mark Brown from Arlington, TX talks to about from burned areas to the Throne of Israel.  David didn't go from anointing to the throne overnight. God led him through three strategic seasons, and each one mattered. First was Gath, the season of preservation. Gath was enemy territory, yet God used it to keep David alive. In Gath, David learned how to survive without promotion, gain wisdom in unfamiliar systems, and function without favor. Gath keeps you alive—but it cannot crown you. Then came Ziklag, the season of purification. What preserved David in Gath was burned in Ziklag. Loss, pressure, and betrayal tested his leadership. Instead of reacting, David strengthened himself in the Lord, inquired of God, pursued, and recovered all. Ziklag removes what promotion cannot tolerate. Finally came the throne, the season of appointment. David had been anointed years earlier, but now he was publicly positioned. The throne required obedience, restoration, humility, and the ability to govern people—not just survive crisis. Here's the progression: Gath to Ziklag to the throne—preservation, purification, appointment. You can't skip a season, but you're not meant to stay in all of them. Your appointment is ahead.

This sermon, centered on Psalm 56, presents a profound meditation on trusting God amid fear, grounded in the psalmist's experience of fleeing from Saul and facing mortal danger in Gath. It emphasizes that true faith is not emotional but rational, rooted in the unchanging character of God—His sovereignty as the Most High, the reliability of His promises, the certainty of His justice, the personal care He extends to His people, and the assurance that He who began a good work in them will complete it. The preacher underscores that fear, though natural, is overcome not by denial of danger but by fixing one's mind on God's eternal purposes: His power to protect, His faithfulness to fulfill His word, His intimate knowledge of every tear and wandering step, and His unwavering commitment to sanctify and preserve His children. The message is both pastoral and convicting, calling believers to trust God not because circumstances are favorable, but because He is faithful, and His work in the soul is already underway and will reach its fulfillment in eternity.

Was Goliath just a myth? For nearly 3,000 years, there was no physical evidence—until 2005. During excavations at the ancient Philistine city of Gath, archaeologists uncovered a pottery shard bearing a name that appears to read “Goliath” in ancient script. Found in the very city the Bible says Goliath lived, this discovery marks the first time his name appears in the archaeological record. Watch as we explore what this small fragment reveals about biblical history!-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------DONATE: https://evidence4faith.org/give/WEBSITE: https://evidence4faith.org/NEWSLETTER: http://eepurl.com/hpazV5BOOKINGS: https://evidence4faith.org/bookings/CONTACT: Evidence 4 Faith, 349 Knights Ave Kewaskum WI 53040 , info@evidence4faith.orgMy goal is that their hearts, having been knit together in love, may be encouraged, and that they may have all the riches that assurance brings in their understanding of the knowledge of the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. - Colossians 2:2-3CREDITS: Developed & Hosted by Michael Lane. Produced & Edited by Isabel Kolste. Graphics & Publication by Isabel Kolste. Additional Art, Film, & Photography Credits: Stock media “Memories” provided by mv_production / Pond5 | Logo Stinger: Unsplash.com: Leinstravelier, Logan Moreno Gutierrez, Meggyn Pomerieau, Jaredd Craig, NASA, NOASS, USGS, Sam Carter, Junior REIS, Luka Vovk, Calvin Craig, Mario La Pergola, Timothy Eberly, Priscilla Du Preez, Ismael Paramo, Tingey Injury Law Firm, Dan Cristian Pădureț, Jakob Owens | Wikimedia: Darmouth University Public Domain, Kelvinsong CC0 | Stock media “A stately Story (Stiner02)” provided by lynnepublishing / Pond5

Feeling brokenhearted, crushed in spirit, or painfully alone can make God feel distant—but Psalm 34:18 assures us the Lord is near in our deepest pain. This devotional points to God’s nearness in suffering, reminding us that He sees, understands, and saves those who feel shattered by life’s hardships. Highlights Feeling alone often hurts more deeply than difficult circumstances themselves. David wrote Psalm 34 during a season of fear, humiliation, and desperation. Scripture describes “brokenhearted” and “crushed” as being shattered beyond repair—yet God draws near. David chose to seek God rather than bitterness or despair. God hears our cries and remains attentive to every moment of distress. Turning to God in pain brings comfort, clarity, and renewed hope. Praise and prayer can coexist with fear, sorrow, and uncertainty. Do you want to listen ad-free? When you join Crosswalk Plus, you gain access to exclusive, in-depth Bible study guides, devotionals, sound biblical advice, and daily encouragement from trusted pastors and authors—resources designed to strengthen your faith and equip you to live it out boldly. PLUS ad free podcasts! Sign Up Today! Full Transcript Below: Held By the One Who Sees and Understands Our Pain By: Jennifer Slattery Bible Reading: The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. - Psalm 34:18, NIV When I look back on some of my most painful experiences, particularly during my homeless period in my late teens, it wasn’t my circumstances that caused the most grief. What hurt most was the fact that I felt alone. I now realize that wasn’t my reality; that the Lord saw me, loved me, and, as today’s verse assures, remained with me every dark moment of every distressing day. David, ancient Israel’s second king, wrote Psalm 34 during a time of crisis. In fear for his life, he hid in Philistine territory, the land of ancient Israel’s fiercest enemies, and in the very city from which Goliath, the warrior David beheaded, came. Learning of his presence, the king's servants said, “Isn’t this David, the king of the land? Isn’t he the one they sing about in their dances: ‘Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands’?” (1 Samuel 21:11, NIV). In other words, isn’t this the guy who killed many of our warriors? 1 Samuel 21:13 states that, “David took these words to heart and was very much afraid of Achish, king of Gath” (NIV, emphasis mine). This gains emphasis when one considers that, as a teen, he took on and defeated a large, heavily armed tyrant that had paralyzed the entire Israeli army. And yet, he felt afraid. In desperation, David prayed to God, asking for mercy and declaring, twice, that he would place his trust in the Lord (Psalm 56). He then pretended to be insane, “making marks on the doors of the gate and letting saliva run down his beard” (1 Samuel 21:14, NIV). How humiliating this must have been—a powerful and successful warrior and the man anointed to reign as ancient Israel’s next king, survived by feigning severe mental illness. As humiliating as this must have been, it saved his life. Then we get to Psalm 34, a beautiful passage in which he declared His trust in and love for God, stating, “I will extol the Lord… his praise will always be on my lips … my soul will boast in the Lord” (V. 1-2, NIV, emphasis mine). He wrote that God heard his cries, saved him from his troubles, and kept His eyes upon him, adding today’s verse in which he confidently proclaimed the Lord’s nearness in times of distress. Again, today’s verse states, The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. David wasn’t just sad, concerned, or discouraged. In the original Hebrew, the word that our Bibles translate as broken has the connotation of something that’s been shattered into pieces. The ending phrase conveys a similar meaning. The word translated as crushed, in the original Hebrew, refers to something pulverized to dust and beyond repair. Scripture uses the same word in Psalm 90:3, which reads: “You turn people back to dust, saying, ‘Return to dust, you mortals’ (NIV, emphasis mine). Have you ever experienced emotional pain so intense that your chest physically hurt and you struggled to breathe? That was how David felt, and understandably so. He feared for his life, likely the lives of his family, was run out of his homeland and everything he knew, and was forced to live as a fugitive for at least a decade. Oh, how lonely and disoriented he must’ve felt. He could’ve turned bitter or become swallowed up in his grief. Instead, he turned to God and sought comfort in Him. That was David’s regular practice. As the New International Chronological Bible states, “Virtually every important encounter he faces becomes memorialized in his petitions to God.” Yet, his psalms don’t just record his requests. They’re also always filled with praise. Intersecting Life & Faith: What a powerful example for us to follow. Sadly, when I feel sad and afraid, initially, I often get stuck in my head. That only makes things worse as one concern tends to lead to another, then another, until I’m nearly buried in gloom. Thankfully, God always meets me there, draws me into His tender embrace, and speaks encouraging truths to my soul. As today’s verse states, He moves close to the brokenhearted. This won’t change. I’m learning, however, that my sorrow feels much more manageable and less dark when I turn to the One who always turns toward me. He’s turning toward you, in your pain, as well. Further Reading:Psalm 145:9Psalm 86:15Psalm 103:13 Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

The One-Orc Conclusion: Judging a Village by One Bad Apple!

Chinese Communist Party Turmoil Following Removal of Seven Top Generals. Charles Burton comments on turmoil in the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leadership following the simultaneous removal of seven top generals for corruption, reported after the gathering of the Fourth Plenum in Beijing. Burton suggests that these senior communists, potentially acting patriotically, may be representing the interests of China and the Chinese people in the face of Xi Jinping's "disastrous leadership." Xi is criticized for his handling of domestic economics and the terrible downturn in relations with the United States, which negatively impacts China. Regardless of whether this signals a successful crackdown on dissent, it indicates serious problems between Mr. Xi—who is reportedly very corrupt himself—and the military.

Fr. Mike reflects on King Saul's despair in the face of trial, and how he seeks other means of comfort when he feels like God has abandoned him. God never abandons us, especially in the midst of danger. Fr. Mike invites us to place our trust in God's promise, instead of resorting to sinful acts. Today's readings are 1 Samuel 27-28 and Psalm 34. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/bibleinayear. Please note: The Bible contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.