Podcasts about Philistines

In this Bible Story, we learn about the rule of Amaziah. He defeats a great threat, but grows arrogant and pompous. The Lord humbles Amaziah in the battle against Israel, and dies in exile. This story is inspired by 2 Chronicles 25 & 2 Kings 14:1-22. Go to https://www.BibleinaYear.com and learn the Bible in a Year.Today's Bible verse is 2 Chronicles 25:18 from the King James Version.Episode 145: The people of God needed a strong, courageous, godly King, and Uzziah provided that hope for the people. The young man was sixteen when he sat on the throne, and he sought God for wisdom just like Solomon did. He leaned on this wisdom of his elders and held the word of the prophet close. He sought God, fought battles against the Philistines, and gained the respect of the nations around him. However, as the stories about him grew, so did his ego. And in his arrogance, he walked into the temple of God without a priest and began to burn incense, as if he were a priest, beginning his downfall.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

https://wels2.blob.core.windows.net/daily-devotions/20260720dev.mp3 Listen to Devotion “This is what the Lord says—Israel’s King and Redeemer, the Lord Almighty: I am the first and I am the last; apart from me there is no God. Who then is like me?” Isaiah 44: 6-7 The Bible Stands Alone In Old Testament times, God gave his people a visible reminder of his presence called the Ark of the Covenant. There was a time when the Ark of the Covenant was captured by the Philistines who had defeated Israel in battle and claimed the ark as their prize. Since they already believed in many gods, why not add the God of Israel as well? So, they placed the ark in the temple of their god, Dagon. The next morning, when they went to worship Dagon, there he lay, facedown before the ark of the Lord! So, Dagon was put back in his place. The next morning, it was the same result—Dagon facedown before the ark of the Lord, but this time his head and hands had broken off. Message received! The ark needed to go back to Israel because Dagon could not handle being in the presence of the Lord. (1 Samuel 5) God has placed in our hearts an awareness that there is a God and a desire to know that God. Throughout the course of human history, different gods and goddesses, spirits, and mystical powers have been proclaimed as gods. But “who then is like me?” asks the Lord. The best that the false worshippers could hope for is that their gods and goddesses would send rain and grow their fields and grow their families and flocks. If they gave the right sacrifices, perhaps those gods would listen. The Lord God stands alone. He does something that sinful minds couldn’t have even imagined. He came to us, wearing our flesh and blood. He redeemed us, taking our sinful failures upon himself. He loves us, promising his presence with us through life and preparing a place in eternity with him when this life comes to its close. Truly, the God of the Bible stands alone. Prayer: Lord God, help me to see you for you who are—eternal, powerful, and singular in your love for fallen humanity. Move my heart to serve you in my life. Amen. Daily Devotions is brought to you by WELS. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. ™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.

https://wels2.blob.core.windows.net/daily-devotions/20260720dev.mp3 Listen to Devotion “This is what the Lord says—Israel’s King and Redeemer, the Lord Almighty: I am the first and I am the last; apart from me there is no God. Who then is like me?” Isaiah 44: 6-7 The Bible Stands Alone In Old Testament times, God gave his people a visible reminder of his presence called the Ark of the Covenant. There was a time when the Ark of the Covenant was captured by the Philistines who had defeated Israel in battle and claimed the ark as their prize. Since they already believed in many gods, why not add the God of Israel as well? So, they placed the ark in the temple of their god, Dagon. The next morning, when they went to worship Dagon, there he lay, facedown before the ark of the Lord! So, Dagon was put back in his place. The next morning, it was the same result—Dagon facedown before the ark of the Lord, but this time his head and hands had broken off. Message received! The ark needed to go back to Israel because Dagon could not handle being in the presence of the Lord. (1 Samuel 5) God has placed in our hearts an awareness that there is a God and a desire to know that God. Throughout the course of human history, different gods and goddesses, spirits, and mystical powers have been proclaimed as gods. But “who then is like me?” asks the Lord. The best that the false worshippers could hope for is that their gods and goddesses would send rain and grow their fields and grow their families and flocks. If they gave the right sacrifices, perhaps those gods would listen. The Lord God stands alone. He does something that sinful minds couldn’t have even imagined. He came to us, wearing our flesh and blood. He redeemed us, taking our sinful failures upon himself. He loves us, promising his presence with us through life and preparing a place in eternity with him when this life comes to its close. Truly, the God of the Bible stands alone. Prayer: Lord God, help me to see you for you who are—eternal, powerful, and singular in your love for fallen humanity. Move my heart to serve you in my life. Amen. Daily Devotions is brought to you by WELS. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. ™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.

https://wels2.blob.core.windows.net/daily-devotions/20260720dev.mp3 Listen to Devotion “This is what the Lord says—Israel’s King and Redeemer, the Lord Almighty: I am the first and I am the last; apart from me there is no God. Who then is like me?” Isaiah 44: 6-7 The Bible Stands Alone In Old Testament times, God gave his people a visible reminder of his presence called the Ark of the Covenant. There was a time when the Ark of the Covenant was captured by the Philistines who had defeated Israel in battle and claimed the ark as their prize. Since they already believed in many gods, why not add the God of Israel as well? So, they placed the ark in the temple of their god, Dagon. The next morning, when they went to worship Dagon, there he lay, facedown before the ark of the Lord! So, Dagon was put back in his place. The next morning, it was the same result—Dagon facedown before the ark of the Lord, but this time his head and hands had broken off. Message received! The ark needed to go back to Israel because Dagon could not handle being in the presence of the Lord. (1 Samuel 5) God has placed in our hearts an awareness that there is a God and a desire to know that God. Throughout the course of human history, different gods and goddesses, spirits, and mystical powers have been proclaimed as gods. But “who then is like me?” asks the Lord. The best that the false worshippers could hope for is that their gods and goddesses would send rain and grow their fields and grow their families and flocks. If they gave the right sacrifices, perhaps those gods would listen. The Lord God stands alone. He does something that sinful minds couldn’t have even imagined. He came to us, wearing our flesh and blood. He redeemed us, taking our sinful failures upon himself. He loves us, promising his presence with us through life and preparing a place in eternity with him when this life comes to its close. Truly, the God of the Bible stands alone. Prayer: Lord God, help me to see you for you who are—eternal, powerful, and singular in your love for fallen humanity. Move my heart to serve you in my life. Amen. Daily Devotions is brought to you by WELS. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. ™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.

David and Goliath.The shepherd and the warrior. The sling and the sword.Even those who have never opened a Bible know something of or about this story. It has become shorthand for improbable victory, for the little guy taking on the establishment, for overcoming the odds. What makes this passage challenging is the fact that if we reduce this story to a motivational tale about self-empowerment, we have missed its true beauty. We have traded the bread of heaven for stones that cannot satisfy.The truth is that 1 Samuel 17 is not primarily about David's courage, though he was courageous. It is not primarily about Goliath's size, though he was terrifying. It is not even primarily about Israel's deliverance from the Philistines, though that deliverance was real and necessary. At its deepest level, this chapter is about: God: His honor, His power, His faithfulness, and His determination to save His people through means that puzzle human wisdom. The God who steps into the valley where we face our giants, not because we are strong enough to win, but because He is strong enough to win for us.Therefore, we need to read this text with the eyes of faith, with the PoV of the New Testament. If we do that, we will discover something even more glorious.

Most of us prefer the path to be direct and short. When life requires a longer route — application after application with no offer, a caregiving season that stretches on without relief, a waiting period that feels uncertain and never-ending — it is easy to become disillusioned not only with the situation but with God Himself. Why this way? Why so long? Why not the obvious route that was right there? The Israelites asked the same questions. After the miraculous liberation from Egypt, God led them away from the shortest path and around by the desert road toward the Red Sea. It made no sense — until it did. The longer route was not a delay. It was divine protection. If they had gone the direct way and encountered the Philistines in battle, they would have lost heart and run back to Egypt. And when Pharaoh's army bore down on them at the edge of the sea, what looked like the worst possible outcome became the stage for one of the greatest displays of God's power in all of Scripture. Psalm 27:14 calls us into the posture the Israelites ultimately had to choose: wait for the Lord, be strong, take heart, and wait. The three invitations this episode offers — pray to trust the detour, pray to see God at work, and pray until you praise — trace the same journey the Israelites traveled from fear to song. God is fighting for you. Stand firm long enough to see it. Today's Bible Verse "Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord."— Psalm 27:14, NIV Ponder Today The longer route is not a mistake — it may be divine protection. God led the Israelites away from the shortest path because He knew what lay on the other side of it. When His timing makes no sense, He may be shielding you from something you cannot yet see. What looks like the worst possible timing is often the setup for God's greatest display of faithfulness. The Israelites were trapped between Pharaoh's army and the Red Sea — and that was exactly where God chose to part the waters. Your impossible situation is not beyond His reach. Standing firm in fear is an opportunity to see God at work. Moses told the terrified Israelites to stand still and watch. That instruction still holds. When circumstances feel overwhelming, resist the urge to retreat to what feels familiar. Stay long enough to witness what God will do. A Prayer for You Today Lord God, when the road ahead feels uncertain, long, and tiring, I am tempted to lose heart. Help me to trust Your direction for my life and Your timing for the situation I face. Remind me that even when Your ways seem longer or less direct than I would like, You are still leading me with wisdom, protection, and care. Give me the courage to stand firm when fear rises and circumstances feel overwhelming. Open my eyes to see You at work in ways I might otherwise miss. Teach me to wait for You and to be strong even when I feel like quitting. I commit to waiting until my heart is once again filled with praise for Your majesty, grace, and faithfulness. Amen. Don't Miss an Episode If today's prayer helped you trust the detour you are currently walking, we'd love to stay connected. Subscribe to the LifeAudio newsletter at LifeAudio.com for daily prayers, devotionals, and more content to strengthen your heart while you wait on God's perfect timing. If you like this podcast, be sure to check out our sister podcast, Your Nightly Prayer - an evening Christian prayer podcast to help you end your day in conversation with God. https://www.lifeaudio.com/your-nightly-prayer/ Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

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.

07/19/2026 Jacob Kim   Judges 2:20-3:6   20 So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he said, “Because this people have transgressed my covenant that I commanded their fathers and have not obeyed my voice, 21 I will no longer drive out before them any of the nations that Joshua left when he died, 22 in order to test Israel by them, whether they will take care to walk in the way of the Lord as their fathers did, or not.” 23 So the Lord left those nations, not driving them out quickly, and he did not give them into the hand of Joshua. 3 Now these are the nations that the Lord left, to test Israel by them, that is, all in Israel who had not experienced all the wars in Canaan. 2 It was only in order that the generations of the people of Israel might know war, to teach war to those who had not known it before. 3 These are the nations: the five lords of the Philistines and all the Canaanites and the Sidonians and the Hivites who lived on Mount Lebanon, from Mount Baal-hermon as far as Lebo-hamath. 4 They were for the testing of Israel, to know whether Israel would obey the commandments of the Lord, which he commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses. 5 So the people of Israel lived among the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 6 And their daughters they took to themselves for wives, and their own daughters they gave to their sons, and they served their gods.

Facing the Philistine Threat

1 Samuel 28:5-20 As Saul continues to rely on himself rather than God, he allows fear to lead him astray. When the Philistine army set up camp at Shumen, Saul was filled with a fear that distorted his perspective and tempted him to compromise. When we give into fear rather than putting our hope in God and relying on him we too can be led astray by our fear..

(This podcast was previously published on August 28, 2021)   Jesus Ministries, Joan Boney  ...   The linage from Abraham to Moses is very interesting to those who are interested in the elect of God.   For there is an elect of God which will be taken by Jesus into heaven when Jesus returns to gather the elect of God from off this earth.   Matthew 24:31 And HE (Jesus) shall send HIS angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together HIS elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.  

In this chapter we see King Saul 1 Samuel 28, King Saul, facing a Philistine invasion and abandoned by God, consults a medium at Endor to summon the prophet Samuel after Samuel's death, only to learn that God.Please Subscribe to or Click here This is your day for a Miracle broadcast was live.petndsSorofP519f382:1hi8cl uhMlul8t2 4  t8yh5J1hg07i7m63a9i1 ·Has anyone introduced you to Jesus Christ, you are reading this message right on time, God loves you so much. He wants you to know, It's not too late. You can receive Jesus Christ as your personal savior right here and right now. But first 

Fear has a way of clouding our vision. It can make familiar truths seem distant, tomorrow feel uncertain, and God's promises appear less true than our circumstances. In 1 Samuel 27–29, David experiences one of the lowest points of his life. Fear drives him into Philistine territory, where compromise, deception, and confusion quickly follow. Yet the account is about more than David's failure. Woven together with the tragic account of Saul's final days, these chapters reveal a God whose sovereign purposes never falter, even when his people struggle to see them. As we continue our journey through 1 Samuel, we'll discover that while fear may cloud our faith, it never clouds God's providence. The question before every believer is simple: Which voice will we trust when fear begins to speak?

The Bible foretells a mysterious character called “the Assyrian” who seems to have a role in the end times war against Israel. Who is he?  What's odd is the Hebrew text of Micah 5:5–6 (and Isaiah 14:25, 31:8, and 52:4) lacks the definite article “the.” In other words, there is no “the Assyrian” in the Old Testament.  The Hebrew word Assur can referred to Assyria, its capital city, or its chief deity, who was the equivalent of the Sumerian/Babylonian god Enlil (called Ellil in Akkad), El of Canaan, Dagon of the Philistines, and Milcom of Ammon—and thus Molech, the netherworld god who demanded the sacrifice of children from his followers.  We believe the passages in Micah are an “already but not yet” prophecy, referring to the imminent conquest of the northern kingdom of Israel by Assyria, which occurred during Micah's lifetime in 722 BC, and a future return of Assur in the end times as the Destroyer, Abaddon/Apollyon, who is released from the abyss for five months to torment those without the seal of God on their foreheads.  Sharon's niece, Sarah Sachleben, has been battling stage 4 bowel cancer and the medical bills are piling up. If you are led to help, please go to GilbertHouse.org/hopeforsarah. Our latest book The Gates of Hell is available in paperback, Kindle, and as an audiobook at Audible! Derek's book Destination: Earth, co-authored with Donna Howell and Allie Anderson, is available in paperback, Kindle, and as an audiobook at Audible! If you are looking for a text of the Book of 1 Enoch to follow our monthly study, you can try these sources: Parallel translations by R. H. Charles (1917) and Richard Laurence (1821)Modern English translation by George W. E. Nickelsburg and James VanderKam (link to book at Amazon)Book of 1 Enoch - Standard English Version by Dr. Jay Winter (link opens free PDF)Book of 1 Enoch - R. H. Charles translation (link opens free PDF) The SkyWatchTV store has a special offer on Dr. Michael Heiser's two-volume set A Companion to the Book of Enoch. Get both books, the R. H. Charles translation of 1 Enoch, and a DVD interview with Mike and Steven Bancarz for a donation of $35 plus shipping and handling. Link: https://bit.ly/heiser-enoch JOIN US IN ISRAEL (NOTE NEW DATES)! We will tour the Holy Land Oct. 25–Nov. 6, 2027 with an optional three-day extension to Jordan. For more information, log on to GilbertHouse.org/travel. Follow us!• X: @gilberthouse_tv | @sharonkgilbert | @derekgilbert• Substack: GilbertHouse.substacdk.com | SharonKGilbert.substack.com• Telegram: t.me/gilberthouse | t.me/sharonsroom | t.me/viewfromthebunker• YouTube: @GilbertHouse | @UnravelingRevelation | @thebiblesgreatestmysteries• Facebook.com/GilbertHouseFellowship Thank you for making our Build Barn Better project a reality! We truly appreciate your support. If you are so led, you can help out at GilbertHouse.org/donate. Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker, and the podcast that started this journey in 2005, P.I.D. Radio. Best of all, it bypasses the gatekeepers of Big Tech! The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/. Gilbert House T-shirts and mugs! New to our store is a line of GHTV and Redwing Saga merch! Check it out at GilbertHouse.org/store! Think better, feel better! Our partners at Simply Clean Foods offer freeze-dried, 100% GMO-free food and delicious, vacuum-packed fair trade coffee from Honduras. Find out more at GilbertHouse.org/store. Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the left-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org.

Drawing from David’s life as a shepherd and later as Israel’s king, this devotional paints a beautiful picture of God's care. Just as shepherds built protective hedges around their sheep at night and positioned themselves as the gate, God lovingly surrounds us with His protection. He doesn't simply guard us from afar—He walks beside us, shielding us from the enemy's lies while gently directing our steps through every season of life. When anxiety tempts us to rely on our own understanding, we can rest knowing we are never navigating life alone. God's hand remains upon us, leading us with wisdom, protecting us from danger, and giving us the freedom to follow Him with confidence. We don't have to live in fear or constantly anticipate every possible threat because our Good Shepherd has already gone before us. Highlights: God surrounds His children with His loving presence, protection, and guidance. Psalm 139 reminds us that God is always before us, behind us, and actively involved in our lives. David's experience as a shepherd illustrates God's protective care like a hedge surrounding His sheep. God's presence guards us against fear, anxiety, and the enemy's deception. We can trust God's gentle guidance instead of relying solely on our own understanding. Because God walks with us, we are free to follow Him without living in constant fear. Join the Conversation When have you experienced God's protection or guidance during a season of uncertainty? How does remembering that God surrounds you with His presence give you peace today? Continue the conversation with the Crosswalk community here: https://forums.crosswalk.com/ 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: Encased by the Father’s Love By Jennifer Slattery Bible Reading:You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me. - Psalm 139:5 NIV This has been an unsettling and confusing season where I’ve questioned my perspective and the path forward in a highly consequential area. I know God is leading, watching over, and blessing me, but my emotions don’t always align with what I know is true. Sometimes, at night, when I’m trying to sleep, the stress and unknowns of this situation pull me into an anxious spiral. In that space, there’s a part of me that fears getting pulled into the devil’s deception, in part because I recognize how easy it is to convince myself that following my preference is God’s leading. That’s a dangerous place to be. It leaves me vulnerable to the enemy’s schemes. Yet, today’s verse reminds me that I’m well-protected by the One who knows me, remains with me, and shields me from what Scripture calls the devil's “flaming arrows.” Lies he aims at my soul to draw me away from Christ and His life-giving truth. David, ancient Israel’s second king who wrote the passage from which today’s verse comes, understood how it feels to find yourself under attack—by the devil, and those he uses to carry out his will. For over a decade, he lived as a fugitive, hiding in caves and even in Philistine territory, for fear of death. During that season, numerous people betrayed him, and he often felt alone and as if no one cared about him. Those were the statements his emotions made when life felt hard, exhausting, and his situation uncertain. But even when his heart cried out for relief, he recalled the truth. He knew how to preach to his soul, a practice we see in many of the poetic prayers preserved in Scripture. Scholars believe he wrote Psalm 139 after he’d assumed the throne and his life became more stable—with a few bumps along the way. Standing on the other side of intense suffering, he was able to look back and reflect upon how God had remained present and faithful each moment of his life—from before he took his first breath. The Lord didn’t guide him from a distance. He came close and surrounded David with His strong, loving, and protective presence. God “hemmed” David in. In the original Hebrew, one could state today’s verse as: Behind and before you have hedged me and laid upon me Your hand.” You may have heard the phrase, “a hedge of protection.” That analogy likely came from today’s verse. And I wonder if David’s statement came from his experience as a shepherd, where, at night, he would’ve created a literal hedge of thorns and branches that formed a makeshift pen for the sheep under his care. For added protection, the shepherd often slept on the ground, forming a gate with his body. Intersecting Life & Faith: This rich historic imagery, when applied to today’s text, reminds us that the Lord surrounds us like those thorny branches that surrounded sheep. He is our shield, strong tower, fortress, and defense who hides us in the shadow of His wings—another picturesque symbol of His protective stance over His children. But notice, He also places His hand upon us. Whenever I read this, I’m reminded of how I guided and protected my daughter when she was learning to walk. She’d gone from strangle-gripping my finger to releasing my hand and toddling off in exploration. I wanted to give her as much freedom as developmentally appropriate while also keeping her from falling into sharp corners or getting too close to the stairs. My solution? To place a gentle hand on her head, remaining alert to when I needed to direct her from danger and back to safe exploration. Speaking of sheep, shepherds, gates, and exploration reminds me of Jesus’ analogy in John 10, when He said His sheep would go in—to the pen—and out to find pasture. His words speak of freedom and the rhythm of coming into the “sheepfold” for the spiritual nourishment and rest we need, then leaving to explore the wide-open spaces He’s provided. But even when we exit the pen, we remain well-protected, whether the threat comes from the devil and his minions or some other frightening or dangerous encounter. God hems us in—by His power and love. By His very self. This gives me the peace to follow, knowing I don’t have to remain hyper vigilant, scanning the horizon for every possible threat. I simply need to remain in step with the One who matches His steps with mine. Further Reading:Psalm 139:1-24Psalm 125:2 Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

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.

Who is the Assyrian?The Bible foretells a mysterious character called “the Assyrian” who seems to have a role in the end times war against Israel. Who is he? What's odd is the Hebrew text of Micah 5:5–6 (and Isaiah 14:25, 31:8, and 52:4) lacks the definite article “the.” In other words, there is no "the Assyrian" in the Old Testament. The Hebrew word Assur can referred to Assyria, its capital city, or its chief deity, who was the equivalent of the Sumerian/Babylonian god Enlil (called Ellil in Akkad), El of Canaan, Dagon of the Philistines, and Milcom of Ammon—and thus Molech, the netherworld god who demanded the sacrifice of children from his followers. We believe the passages in Micah are an “already but not yet” prophecy, referring to the imminent conquest of the northern kingdom of Israel by Assyria, which occurred during Micah's lifetime in 722 BC, and a future return of Assur in the end times as the Destroyer, Abaddon/Apollyon, who is released from the abyss for five months to torment those without the seal of God on their foreheads.

Group Guide Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week. 2 Samuel 22 Matt Freeman Download TranscriptIt's good to see you guys this morning. If you would go ahead, grab a Bible and turn to 2 Samuel 22. If you don't have a Bible, I want to encourage you to grab one of the black ones that are under the seats right in front of you. We're going to be on page 313. I'm going to put some of the extra passages and verses on the screen for us, but the bulk of our time is just going to be walking through this passage together. So, we want you to have a Bible in your hands.If we haven't met yet, my name is Matt Freeman. I get the opportunity to serve here as a lay pastor. And most Sundays you'll see me up here with a guitar in my hands or maybe playing piano and leading worship. But I am thankful for the times where I get the opportunity to teach our church family when it makes the most sense for our team. The truth is I'm usually just called in for the passages that Chet and Spencer find too difficult. But today is a little bit more in my wheelhouse.And so we're coming to the end of our time in 1 and 2 Samuel and we're bringing our study on the life of David to a close. And Chet mentioned this last week, but we have left the chronological flow of things and we've really just entered into the epilogue where the writer of 1 and 2 Samuel is just highlighting specific vignettes in David's life for us to focus in on to learn something from. But part of what's interesting here is that the books of 1 and 2 Samuel are historical narrative, meaning that they're just giving us a historical account of the people of God. And we've been tracing that through the lives of Samuel and then Saul and now David.But in this epilogue, we're given a song, which is crazy because we've been walking through all of this history, but now we're given a song. In fact, in the ESV, the title is David's Song of Deliverance. And so, it's at least curious enough for us to lean in and go, why a song? Why here? And for me, I love music. So, I'm pumped about the fact that it's a song.I listen to music constantly. I am either playing or singing all the time. People who know me well know my life is like I'm a walking musical. But music has this incredible power about it. It has the ability to make us feel things more deeply than we could without it. Just imagine your favorite movie without the musical score behind it.Imagine Jaws without the two notes getting faster and faster and faster. Imagine the opening of a Star Wars movie without the fanfare. It's just words suddenly going across your screen at an awkward angle. Think about it. Think about going to a wedding. The doors open.The bride walks in and it's just shuffling feet. Music helps us feel that moments matter. Music also helps us remember things way more easily. Some of you have a very deep bank of song lyrics. Some of those songs you wish you could forget, but you just remember songs. Let's play a game.[He prompts the congregation with a brief Bon Jovi lyric, and they sing the response in harmony.] That wasn't just melody. It was harmony. Like, also, I bet you didn't have singing Bon Jovi on your bingo card for this morning. But we could play that game all morning long. Music's also a part of how we learned. Nearly half of everything you learned in elementary school was set to a song.It's part of how we give honor and celebrate. It's why we sing happy birthday. We do the national anthem. You know, over the course of your life, music is how you got through your first breakup. Music's how you got pumped up for a game. You know that if you're at a college football game and the band kicks in, it's go time.Music helps us feel these things. And here's the reality. God created music. He beautifully and intentionally and creatively baked all of this stuff into it, and he made it important in the life of his people. Roughly one-third of the Old Testament is divinely inspired poetry. The book in the Bible with the largest number of chapters and one of the largest books in the Bible is the book of Psalms.John Piper says in the Psalms you can find 27 different human emotions and how they're given expression in relation to God. The people of God are a musical people. We're singing people. We're commanded over 50 times in the Bible to sing to the Lord. And here we are at the end of historical narrative and we're given a song. And it's not just any song.It's a song that's so important that it's not just put in the Bible once, it's in the Bible twice. We have a near verbatim replica of this song given to us in Psalm 18 that we started as our call to worship this morning. And so, knowing that God's the creator of music and knowing all that he's put into it, why do we get this song here? So at this season of David's life, after decades of war and strife and danger and hundreds of deliverances, it says that David now has rest from his enemies and from Saul. He's now a successful and powerful king. And what does David do?He worships God. In the ancient world, when earthly kings came to the end of their lives and they wanted people to celebrate their victories and conquest, they would build monuments to themselves. They wanted future generations to look at their strength, their power, their accomplishments, but not David. David doesn't say, "Look at me." He says, "Look at God." The song is not a monument to David's victories.It's a testimony to David's God. And so its placement here in the epilogue is to teach us that it's all about God. So in some ways this morning, David's going to teach us about worship. We're going to walk through this song together, and we're going to let David fix our eyes on the Lord. Hopefully by the end of it, we're going to see how this song extends to us, into our lives and into our story as well. So let's ask the Lord to help us do that.Would you pray with me? God, we know that you have intentionally placed this song in the epilogue after we've seen so much of David's story for a reason. So, I pray that you would help us let David fix our eyes on you this morning. That we would see why David worships you his whole life long. And that would extend into our story as well. In Jesus' name, amen.So, let's take a look at it together. 2 Samuel 22. Again, this is mirrored in Psalm 18, meaning it's not just David's personal song. It is meant to be a song of deliverance for all of God's people. And what we're going to see here is that this song is all about David's God, not David's victories. But verse one gets us into it. It says this:> And David spoke to the LORD the words of this song on the day when the LORD delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul. (2 Samuel 22:1 ESV)It just sets the context for the song. We're not actually into the song yet. And it says that David spoke these words to the LORD. So LORD, if you're looking in your Bible, it's capitalized.It's L O R D. This is the personal covenant name of God that he gave to his people. This is Yahweh. And so David is singing this song to his personal God, Yahweh. And again, we've left chronology here. We don't know exactly when this sits in David's life, but we've read 1 and 2 Samuel, so we know a lot of things.We know the kinds of deliverances that he's been delivered from. We know at least we can go back to one of our first encounters where God delivers David from Goliath and then battle after battle with the Philistines and then from Saul. But we've also seen that once he becomes king, he's delivered from his son Absalom, who rebels against him. He goes on the run. Most recently, we looked at the rebellion of Sheba. And so David, looking back over a lifetime of deliverance with gratitude in his heart, can't help but erupt in praise to the Lord.And so let's pick it back up in verse two. We'll go through seven:> He said, “The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer,> my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge,> my shield, and the horn of my salvation,> my stronghold and my refuge,> my savior; you save me from violence.> I call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised,> and I am saved from my enemies.> For the waves of death encompassed me,> the torrents of destruction assailed me;> the cords of Sheol entangled me;> the snares of death confronted me.> In my distress I called upon the LORD;> to my God I called.> From his temple he heard my voice,> and my cry came to his ears. (2 Samuel 22:2–7 ESV)You can just feel the language of an old, battle-worn warrior here.David has continually found his strength in the Lord. And so he reaches for every word that he can find. Look back at it. It says rock, fortress, deliverer, shield, horn, stronghold, refuge. But notice, David is not just teaching us to praise God only when life feels good and settled.He's teaching us how to praise God in the middle of every season. He remembers the waves of death, the torrents of destruction, the days when he felt alone and afraid, surrounded and desperate for rescue. And yet in all of it, he cries out to the Lord and he praises the Lord. So he praises God in the midst of his strength and in his weakness, in his victories and in his fears. In the midst of the battle and when he's been delivered, he turns all of it into worship. And let me step to the side for a moment and go into worship leader mode. Again, David's teaching us about worship. This isn't the main point of the passage, but I do think there are a couple of things that help highlight for us why corporate worship matters.Okay, first one is this. We sing to God in every season of life. So, it matters that we sing songs like that on Sunday morning. When we come into this room, we're going to sing songs of praise like we've done this morning. We have sung “Cornerstone” and “The Rock Won't Move,” high songs of praise to God. But we also need songs in the midst of pain and grief and lament.Songs like “Lord, I Need You” or “He Will Hold Me Fast.” We need songs for all of it on Sunday morning because we all come into this room in different seasons of life. And we have a God who can relate to us in all of it. So, we want those songs to be reflected.It also means that we sing to God, but also for the benefit of everyone else in the room. This morning, when our vocalists pulled the mics down and you could just hear the room singing, it was incredible. This is one of my favorite verses. This is from Ephesians 5:19. This is Paul talking to the church, giving them some instructions.It says, “Addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart.” So, we sing for God, to God, but it's also for the benefit of everyone else around us. And so, there have been times, guys, where I've walked into this room and I've been struggling. I've been hurting. I wasn't leading worship. I was just in a seat. And we start singing songs, and I'm looking at the screen and having a hard time believing the words that are up there.But I start looking around the room at my brothers and sisters, and I see them singing. I see the couple who's just lost a child. I see the marriage that is struggling. I see the brother or sister who is currently walking through a battle with sin. And they're standing, and with faith and hope and trust they're praising the Lord. Suddenly I'm encouraged because I'm looking at their faith, and I'm back to my feet and singing, which kind of makes the third point obvious. It highlights why it's important that we regularly gather and participate on Sunday mornings. It's not just enough to come into this room.God has intentionally put something in the times where we are singing to him and singing for the benefit of others that is meant to teach us how to walk the journey of faith with him in all seasons. And again, David's teaching us about worship here. We're seeing God for who he is. And then he continues back in the passage. He's going to paint this picture for us a little bit more here. He's going to use even more colorful and descriptive language for us to describe how the Lord has delivered him time and again.Let's pick it back up in verse 8:> Then the earth reeled and rocked;> the foundations of the heavens trembled> and quaked, because he was angry.> Smoke went up from his nostrils,> and devouring fire from his mouth;> glowing coals flamed forth from him.> He bowed the heavens and came down;> thick darkness was under his feet.> He rode on a cherub and flew;> he was seen on the wings of the wind.> He made darkness around him his canopy,> thick clouds, a gathering of water.> Out of the brightness before him> coals of fire flamed forth.> The LORD thundered from heaven,> and the Most High uttered his voice.> And he sent out arrows and scattered them;> lightning, and routed them.> Then the channels of the sea were seen;> the foundations of the world were laid bare,> at the rebuke of the LORD,> at the blast of the breath of his nostrils. (2 Samuel 22:8–16 ESV)The reality here is that we have such a finite capability to comprehend the glory and the magnitude and the majesty of our Creator God. And there's something about this type of poetic and metaphorical and descriptive language that just plainly saying it does not get across.Let me give you an example of this. Someone could say, “I would like to travel to my hometown in the mountains because I have a positive emotional connection with it.” That's technically clear. That's communicating information. Or someone could do this.[Sings a brief excerpt from “Take Me Home, Country Roads.”]And now what could have been a plain sentence is emotion and longing and geography and family and home. The plain sentence may be true, but the song engages us in a completely different way. And that's exactly what David's doing right here. David's not giving us a weather report. He's not saying that smoke literally came out of God's nose or that God physically flew on a cherub through the clouds. He's reaching for language that's big enough to help us picture and feel what ordinary language cannot: that when the God of the heavens and the earth chooses to move to rescue his servant, it's as if the whole world were laid bare.Plain language can tell us that God delivered David. But there's something about this type of language that helps us feel the majesty of the God who does the saving. So, David reaches for earthquakes, fire, smoke, thunder, darkness, and lightning. Because when God comes to save, he doesn't come lightly. And he continues on with some of this kind of metaphorical language. Again, he's trying to help us picture it. He continues in a similar way back in verse 17.Let's read a few verses here:> He sent from on high, he took me;> he drew me out of many waters.> He rescued me from my strong enemy,> from those who hated me,> for they were too mighty for me.> They confronted me in the day of my calamity,> but the LORD was my support.> He brought me out into a broad place;> he rescued me, because he delighted in me. (2 Samuel 22:17–20 ESV)I mean, it's just beautiful, right? It's this picture of David drowning beneath the waves, and God pulls him out and rescues him. It's similar language to what we see used to describe the Israelites coming out of Egypt: they come through the water. He rescues them.Have you ever been in a situation where you felt like you were drowning? Like literally drowning. It's terrifying. I actually have a couple of these stories from growing up. So, when we were growing up, we used to go to the state park in my hometown. It's not in West Virginia; it's in South Carolina. We would go to the lake.They had this nice swimming area. There was a beach. There was a part where you could swim that was kind of partitioned off with buoys so that you knew that you could touch. And we had gone there with some friends. But out beyond the buoys, there was this dock. It was about 40 feet from the shore. And on this dock was a high dive.And so, you know, we're there with friends. It's like, let's go. All right. So, we're going to swim beyond where our feet could touch. And we're going to swim past the buoys out all the way to this dock. We're going to clamor up on the dock.And then, you know, we've seen people jumping. My friends go to jump. And so I ascend the ladder and get to the top of this high dive. And most people were just kind of jumping off. Well, I thought I'm going to do a flip. And a flip I did.And so I did that flip and then I just kept going. So guys, I hit the water and all the air left my body and my body froze and I started going underneath the water. And then my body woke up and so I thrashed to the surface and I'm screaming and crying and I'm disoriented because I don't know where I'm at. And thankfully there were lifeguards in canoes because obviously this has happened before. And so they come over to me and they pull me from the water into this canoe. And if everybody had not been watching just by the sheer sound of me hitting the water, they're watching now because I am screaming and crying.And now they've got to canoe me the 40 feet back to the shore. And you know, my friends still love to tell this story. They laugh about it all the time. They think it's super embarrassing. And I just remind them it's not a big deal. I'm sure that happens to a lot of 17-year-olds.To be fair, I was in third grade, but it was still super embarrassing, and it does come up in stories a lot. But all jokes aside, guys, there was a moment where if they're not there and they don't pull me from the water, I don't know. And that's what the king of Israel is saying. David's saying, “If not for God, if God had not pulled me from the water, I was sunk.” It's beautiful, just incredible language. And again, he's given us a picture here.He continues on. Verse 21 says:> The LORD dealt with me according to my righteousness;> according to the cleanness of my hands he rewarded me.> For I have kept the ways of the LORD> and have not wickedly departed from my God.> For all his rules were before me,> and from his statutes I did not turn aside.> I was blameless before him,> and I kept myself from guilt.> And the LORD has rewarded me according to my righteousness,> according to my cleanness in his sight. (2 Samuel 22:21–25 ESV)This is where the song gets a little difficult to process. David says, “The LORD dealt with me according to my righteousness.” And immediately we want to stop him and be like, “David, buddy, we've read the story. We've read 2 Samuel.” And again, we don't know where this falls in David's life, but we know where the writer of 2 Samuel put it after we've already read all of this mess.We know about the adultery with Bathsheba. We know about the murder of Uriah and all the chaos that ensues from that, the failures in leadership. There's deep mess that marks parts of David's life. So when David says, "I was blameless before him," it feels out of alignment to us. And part of the reason it feels strange is because we tend to only have two categories for this type of claim. Perfection or failure.So either you get it all right or you fail. You don't. You're disqualified. So when David talks about righteousness and blamelessness, we hear him claiming perfection. But that's not actually what David's doing here.David's not saying, "I never sinned." We know that he sinned. He knows that he sinned. He's saying he kept the ways of the Lord. In verse 22, it says, "I have not wickedly departed from my God." When David sinned, he repented.When Nathan confronted him over Bathsheba and Uriah, David didn't harden his heart like Saul had done. He broke before the Lord. David knew that he sinned. Psalm 51 is David's repentance from his sin. And I think that's part of why Scripture can describe David in such unique terms. Maybe you'll remember this from 1 Samuel.This is after Saul had sinned, and Samuel comes to him and says this to Saul: “But now your kingdom shall not continue. The LORD has sought out a man after his own heart. And the LORD has commanded him to be prince over his people, because you have not kept what the LORD commanded you.” The difference between Saul and David is that David repented when he was confronted in his sin. And so the righteousness here is not sinless perfection.It's covenant faithfulness. It's loyalty to the Lord. It's why David can be described as a man after God's own heart. Not because David never failed. It was because even in his failure, he kept coming back to the Lord. And that's extraordinarily good news for us: part of keeping the ways of the Lord and the decrees of God is that he has made provision for sinners to come to him.And part of how we follow faithfully is that we own it. We confess our sin to the Lord. We confess our brokenness and we repent and we turn from it. And so again, David's teaching us about worship. He shows us that the faithful life is not a sinless life. The faithful life is a repentant life.The life that keeps returning to a God who saves, to a God who gives grace. And he keeps describing that God in the next few verses. Pick it back up in verse 26:> With the merciful you show yourself merciful;> with the blameless man you show yourself blameless;> with the purified you deal purely,> and with the crooked you make yourself seem tortuous.> You save a humble people,> but your eyes are on the haughty to bring them down.> For you are my lamp, O LORD,> and my God lightens my darkness.> For by you I can run against a troop,> and by my God I can leap over a wall.> This God—his way is perfect;> the word of the LORD proves true;> he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him. (2 Samuel 22:26–31 ESV)Isn't that so good? It's what we read out loud together just a little while ago. He shows himself merciful. He saves a humble people who know that they need it. He's a shield to those who will run behind the shield to seek refuge in him.He's a lamp that lightens the darkness. This is why it's important that the songs that we sing tell us the full counsel of God as revealed in his word. We can look back at verses 8–16 and see a God who's mighty and big and in majesty and thunders and can lay the world bare, who's also merciful and gracious and patient. And so we've proclaimed with David, “This God—his way is perfect.” It's incredible. And so we're going to continue on in verse 32.And this time we're going to read a little bit larger section. And I want us to be looking for who's the main player, who's the focus of the passage. You're going to see all kinds of pictures, so many of the stories that we've already read about David, but I want you to look for who's the focus as we walk through this. Pick it up in verse 32:> For who is God, but the LORD?> And who is a rock, except our God?> This God is my strong refuge> and has made my way blameless.> He made my feet like the feet of a deer> and set me secure on the heights.> He trains my hands for war,> so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.> You have given me the shield of your salvation,> and your gentleness made me great.> You gave a wide place for my steps under me,> and my feet did not slip;> I pursued my enemies and destroyed them,> and did not turn back until they were consumed.> I consumed them; I thrust them through, so that they did not rise;> they fell under my feet.> For you equipped me with strength for the battle;> you made those who rise against me sink under me.> You made my enemies turn their backs to me,> those who hated me, and I destroyed them.> They looked, but there was none to save;> they cried to the LORD, but he did not answer them.> I beat them fine as the dust of the earth;> I crushed them and stamped them down like the mire of the streets.> You delivered me from strife with my people;> you kept me as the head of the nations;> people whom I had not known served me.> Foreigners came cringing to me;> as soon as they heard of me, they obeyed me.> Foreigners lost heart> and came trembling out of their fortresses. (2 Samuel 22:32–46 ESV)Notice who's the most important.Who's the focus? God trains, strengthens, enlarges, makes, sets, protects, subdues enemies, and establishes David. The message is simple. David fights, but it's God who wins. This is one of Scripture's clearest pictures of divine sovereignty working through human responsibility. David acts, but God is ultimately the one who's in control of all things.And so in this song, it becomes clear who gets the glory. Who's the focus? It's God. David may be telling his story, but David's not the hero of the story. God is the hero of David's story. And David knows this.I think it's why it's included here in the epilogue. This is the king telling his people, “Look to God. He's the deliverer.” David never takes the credit. He says it's about God. This is one of the reasons why on Sunday mornings, the large majority of the songs that we sing are either about God or to God, versus what we do or what we're going to do for God.There's a place for the latter, but this psalm reinforces that if we're talking about what we've done or what we're going to do, it's all because the Lord is sovereign over all of it. We act, but he's in control. He's the one who gets the glory. And at this point, David kind of reverts back to where he was at the beginning of the song. He just explodes back into praise. Let's finish the song.Verse 47 to the end:> The LORD lives, and blessed be my rock,> and exalted be my God, the rock of my salvation,> the God who gave me vengeance> and brought down peoples under me,> who brought me out from my enemies;> you exalted me above those who rose against me;> you delivered me from men of violence.> For this I will praise you, O LORD, among the nations,> and sing praises to your name.> Great salvation he brings to his king,> and shows steadfast love to his anointed,> to David and his offspring forever. (2 Samuel 22:47–51 ESV)The song ends where it began with praise, but now the praise expands. David says, “I will praise you among the nations.” He understood that the blessings of God were meant to extend to all peoples of the earth. Which is really good news for us because David was a Hebrew, and this song is in the Hebrew songbook.So it's good news that it was meant to extend to the nations because that's most of us, right? This becomes missionary theology in the New Testament. Paul quotes this verse in Romans 15, talking about the mission of God, God's glory going to the nations, going everywhere. And so this song has been driving. It's been in a slow, big build and crescendo to the finale, which is really this final verse. And so, we're going to look at the final verse again and focus in on it because there are some key words here that should really pull our minds towards covenant language.Let's look at it again. It says, “Great salvation he brings to his king and shows steadfast love to his anointed, to David and his offspring forever.” It says, “Great salvation he brings to his king.” That's the first time that word has shown up in this entire psalm: king. And we think about God establishing David as the king. It says he shows steadfast love. This is the Hebrew word hesed.We see it show up in Moses. We see it show up around 200 times in the Old Testament alone. This is God moving and working. It's a reminder of his covenant love to his people. He shows steadfast love to his anointed. We know that David's the anointed king, but the word for anointed here is Messiah. Then there's offspring.We see that it's coming through a line, and this is a throne that's going to be established forever. And these are not just random words. All of these are echoes of God's covenant with David. And so to refresh our minds for this, I want us to look back at 2 Samuel 7, where God has given this covenant to David, because I think it's going to help us see it. It says this:> When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever. (2 Samuel 7:12–16 ESV)And here's what we know. The kingship passes to Solomon, and Solomon fulfills some of this. He does build a temple, but then he also makes some terrible decisions, and then he dies. The kingdom passes to his son Rehoboam, and almost immediately everything goes sideways. The kingdom splits, and it's never reunited.So the question remains, how will this kingdom be established forever? What kind of king can receive all of the promises of David and never lose them? What kind of son can reign forever? And as we read verse 51 and this section in 2 Samuel 7, I hope for the Christians in the room, all of the light switches have just started to turn on because it's all pointing to Jesus. The answer is Jesus. Look back at it here: “Great salvation he brings to his king.”It's the kind of king who would step off his throne and come down to his people in the greatest act of steadfast love. He comes as the one who is anointed, the long-awaited one, the Messiah. He comes in the line of David, and he comes to establish a kingdom that will last forever. Not an earthly kingdom but an eternal kingdom. This song ultimately belongs to the greater son of David. David can sing this song as a repentant king upheld by grace. But Jesus can sing it as the perfectly righteous king whose hands were truly clean, who perfectly kept the ways of the Lord, who never sinfully departed from his God, who was truly blameless.And here's the wonder of the gospel. The only king who was worthy to be rewarded for his righteousness traded places with us. At the cross, the righteous king was treated as the guilty one so that guilty people could be made righteous in him. He came and entered the storm of judgment for us. He bore the wrath that we deserved. He died the death that we should have died. And he rose again in victory as the deliverer.So this song is fulfilled in Jesus. And because it's true of Jesus, it gets to be true for everyone who belongs to Jesus. When David says, "The Lord is my rock," we know even more fully that Christ is our rock and our firm foundation. When David says, "The Lord is my fortress," we know even more fully that we are safe and secure in Christ.When David says, "The Lord is my deliverer," we relish in the fact that Jesus delivered us from sin and from death and from hell. When David says, "He rescued me because he delighted in me," we know that even more in Christ because the Father delights in the Son. And by faith, we're united to the Son. And so David writes this song about his life, but the song's not ultimately about David. It's about David's God. The story of David's life is God's faithfulness to David through every season—in danger, in deliverance, in weakness, in victory, in sin, in repentance, in sorrow, and in joy.David looks back over his life and he says, "Don't look at me. Look at the God who's been faithful." And because this song is ultimately fulfilled in Jesus, it gets to be true for us as well. The band's going to come back up, and they're going to lead us in a final song. But I want you to focus here for just a few more moments because I have a question I want to ask you and I want you to consider. If you were to write a song about your life, what would it be about?What would the lyrics be? Who would the song be about? Would it be a song that's about striving or achieving, building, trying to make a name for ourselves? Would it be a song that's about anxiety or worry or seeking to be in control or trying to white knuckle our way through life as if everything depended on us? Or would it be a song like David's a testimony that through every season God has been faithful? And the good news for you this morning is that in Jesus, this song gets to be your song.It gets to be my song. That his rescue becomes my rescue. That his refuge is my refuge. That this king is my king. And one day, every song of deliverance will roll into the new song of eternity. Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb.So until that day, let's keep singing like David. Let every rescued sinner echo this refrain from verse 47. The Lord lives and blessed be my rock and exalted be my God, the rock of my salvation. Let's pray. God, you have been faithful and good throughout my life. Help me use every breath to sing of your goodness. In Jesus' name, amen.

[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.

Today we have a teaching about the blessings for being obedient to God. If you have any questions, or you would like to share how our teachings have affected your life, please email us or visit us at rejoicingheart.net Our email is listed under the about tab on this page. God bless you! Rob and Donna Rejoice In You From the Integrity Music Release One, featuring Planetshakers Ministries Int'l ©2009 Planetshakers Publishing (APRA) (admin. By Music Services, www.musicservices.org) All Rights Reserved. Used by permission. 1 Samuel 15:22-23 (KJV) 22 And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. 23 For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king. 1 Samuel 13:12 (KJV) 12 Therefore said I, The Philistines will come down now upon me to Gilgal, and I have not made supplication unto the LORD: I forced myself therefore, and offered a burnt offering. 1 Samuel 13:13-14 (KJV) 13 And Samuel said to Saul, Thou hast done foolishly: thou hast not kept the commandment of the LORD thy God, which he commanded thee: for now would the LORD have established thy kingdom upon Israel for ever. 14 But now thy kingdom shall not continue: the LORD hath sought him a man after his own heart, and the LORD hath commanded him to be captain over his people, because thou hast not kept that which the LORD commanded thee. 1 Samuel 15:3 (KJV) 3 Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass. 1 Samuel 15:9 (KJV) 9 But Saul and the people spared Agag, and the best of the sheep, and of the oxen, and of the fatlings, and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them: but every thing that was vile and refuse, that they destroyed utterly. Isaiah 1:19 (KJV) 19 If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land: John 15:14 (KJV) 14 Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. 1 John 3:23 (KJV) 23 And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment. Acts 4:12 (KJV) 12 Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. James 1:25 (KJV) 25 But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. Romans 6:16 (KJV) 16 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? Luke 11:28 (KJV) 28 But he said, Yea rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it.

The story of Samson is a challenging test, a riddle, a parable. Even as we examine the text, the text is examining us – it is testing and cross-examining our loyalties. Samson is not a tidy Sunday school story. He is a wild man, often driven by the Holy Spirit, sometimes driven by his lusts. And the questions require us to think carefully and apply them to ourselves. The Text: “Samson went down to Timnah, and at Timnah he saw one of the daughters of the Philistines. Then he came up and told his father and mother, “I saw one of the daughters of the Philistines at Timnah. Now get her for me as my wife…” (Judges 14:1-20)King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.Follow us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/kingscrossmoscow.

The day before 9/11, a 70-pound branch fell from 30 feet and split Lance's chair in half — right where his head had been one second earlier. The only reason he moved? An unaccountable impulse while praying in the Spirit that he couldn't plan, reason through, or explain. What does the Holy Spirit reveal through praying in tongues that your mind simply can't access on its own? In this message, Lance shares the story of that divine deliverance at a Tony Robbins event in 2001, what it taught him about yielding to the Spirit's nudges before you understand them — and how that same supernatural sensitivity connects to the 7 wells God is calling His people to dig in 2026. Drawing from Isaac's story in Genesis 26 and the Seven Mountains mandate, Lance brings a prophetic update on why the Philistines keep filling your wells with gravel, and what God is releasing this year to push the enemy back across every key mountain of culture. In this episode: The "unaccountable impulse" that saved Lance's life the night before 9/11 Why praying in tongues is "the believer's edge" — not a cosmic battery, but revelation in delay The seven wells God wants dug in 2026 — and how the enemy tries to fill each one Isaac's pattern: blessings so conspicuous that even your enemies want peace The Seven Mountains mandate and its relevance to America's next chapter This is the kind of story that reframes why you pray in the Spirit — even when nothing seems to be happening.   Podcast Episode 2173: How The Unaccountable Impulse of God Saved My Life! | don't miss this! Listen to more episodes of the Lance Wallnau Show at lancewallnau.com/podcast   

Text: 2 Samuel chapters 6-9 Supplemental Text: The Fourth Thousand Years chapter 5 BYU Lecture 29: After battling Abner and the northern 10 tribes, King David unites all of Israel and moves the capital city from Hebron to Jerusalem. Peace in Israel, however, is short lived. The Philistines (Canaanites) rally their forces against Israel to attack King David – their Goliath killer. David inquires of the Lord what to do and is promised that the Philistines will be delivered into his hands. Sure enough, David's army soundly conquers the invading armies. Meanwhile, King Hiram of Lebanon (Phoenicians) sought a friendly alliance with Israel. He offers to build a fine palace for David, made from the famous cedars of Lebanon. He even provided the masons and carpenters to complete this beautiful, massive project. With his palace completed, David desires to build a beautiful house of the Lord. In anticipation of this, he sends for the Ark of the Covenant to be delivered to Jerusalem. Unfortunately, the holy process of moving the Ark was neglected and David was careless. Rather than instructing the Priests of Aaron to carry the Ark on their shoulders, as commanded by God several hundred years earlier, it was placed on a cart pulled by oxen. Enroute, the cart faltered and the Ark itself appeared to be in jeopardy of falling. Uzzah, sensing a tragedy, reached up to steady the Ark. This was in violation with God's command that no one but the Priests of Aaron may touch the sacred Ark. Immediately, Uzzah was struck dead. Realizing his carelessness, David called and authorized Priests of Aaron to carry the Ark on ther shoulders the remainder of the way to Jerusalem. An important lesson was learned that day; God will not be mocked. In humility, David wanted to build a holy temple to house the Ark, but through the prophet Nathan, the Lord forbad him. He did, however, give David the pattern for the temple when it would be built by his son Solomon. The Lord also promised David that he would be the ancestor of the great Messiah. David expands the might and strength of Israel until it borders the very lands as promised specifically by God to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Moses.    

The sermon examines David's journey from a faithful leader to a discouraged fugitive who made a disastrous decision driven by fear rather than divine guidance. By fleeing to the Philistines, David stepped out of God's will but remained within His reach, ultimately facing the tragic consequences of his choices when his home was raided. The central message emphasizes that while human reasoning can lead to failure, turning back to God in repentance invites immediate restoration and deliverance. Through personal testimony and biblical analysis, the preacher illustrates that God upholds those who fall and restores all that was lost when they seek His direction. The narrative encourages believers to trust God's timing and faithfulness, assuring them that no matter how far they wander, God is ready to restore their purpose and possessions.

Christ Community Church (formerly ECC)

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.

Conflict is an unavoidable part of life, but it does not have to be the final chapter. In Genesis 26, Isaac experiences God's blessing, only to find himself surrounded by jealousy, opposition, and repeated disputes. The Philistines envied Isaac's prosperity, exchanged hostile words with him over the wells, and continually pressured him to move on. Yet Isaac chose faith over retaliation, perseverance over bitterness, and peace over revenge. In time, the very people who opposed him came seeking peace, and what began in conflict ended in covenant. Join us this Sunday as we discover how God's faithful covenantal promises cannot be thwarted and how we are to pursue peace in the midst of conflict.

https://youtu.be/az-5lsjpJ4c https://www.uncommen.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/July-3.mp3 There is a silent but devastating epidemic actively destroying the way men approach their faith, and it has absolutely nothing to do with laziness or a lack of Bible knowledge. The crisis is happening inside our own prayer closets, in the quiet negotiations we run with God before we ever move. Far too many men treat their walk with Christ like a business deal: I do this, God does that. We hear the exact same exhausted sentiment from guys all over the country: "I did what He asked, and nothing changed, so why bother?" They are physically present in church on Sunday, but they are spiritually absent the moment the results don't show up on schedule. What does the Bible say about obedience when the outcome refuses to cooperate with your timeline? The modern definition of faith has tricked men into abandoning what does the Bible say about obedience in its truest form. We have been sold a massive lie that our obedience is only legitimate if it produces a visible, measurable win. For generations, men have mistakenly assumed obedience was a transaction, a coin dropped into a vending machine that dispenses blessing on command. While wanting good outcomes is not inherently sinful, it is only the baseline instinct. It is the starting line, not the finish line. To fully answer what does the Bible say about obedience, we have to aggressively look past our own scoreboard and peer directly into God's command. Quick Answers What Does the Bible Say About Obedience? The Bible says obedience is a command tied to the act of obeying, not to the outcome that obedience produces. Scripture repeatedly shows men obeying God without any guarantee of success, from Jonah's reluctant trip to Nineveh to the Great Commission itself. What does the Bible say about obedience, in short? It says the results belong to God, and the obeying belongs to you. Does the Bible Say Obedience Requires a Good Outcome? No. Nowhere in Scripture is obedience conditioned on a favorable result. Men are called to trust God's plan and act in faith, even when the visible outcome looks like failure by every human measure. Escaping the Outcome Trap This brings us to a harsh but necessary truth about what does the Bible say about obedience: it was never contingent on your success rate. Look directly at Matthew 28:19-20, which states: "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age." Notice that the text does not say, "Go and make disciples, but only if a reasonable percentage respond favorably." Jesus issued a command, not a performance guarantee. The core of what does the Bible say about obedience is fundamentally rooted in the act itself, not in the response it generates. Men who spend any real time in ministry, whether it's leading a Bible study, mentoring a teenager, or simply trying to talk to a coworker about Christ, run into this trap constantly. You brace yourself for the conversation. You rehearse the words. And then the other person walks away unmoved, maybe even offended, and you feel like you failed. That reaction is completely backwards. Obedience over outcome means the win was already secured the moment you opened your mouth, not when the other person nodded along. If you keep measuring your faithfulness by other people's reactions, you will eventually stop being obedient altogether, because the world does not owe you a favorable response for doing the right thing. The outcome trap is seductive precisely because it feels like accountability. It feels responsible to ask, "What's my return on this obedience?" But that question was never yours to ask. God does not need your five-year plan approved before He hands you a command. What does the Bible say about obedience in the middle of that impatience? It says wait on the command, not on the calculator. Obedience Versus Outcome: The Weight of the Great Commission When we carefully examine what does the Bible say about obedience, the tension of obedience versus outcome becomes impossible to ignore. Consider the sheer scale of the Great Commission. Jesus commanded His followers to reach every nation, every tribe, every person on the planet. There was no footnote excusing a man from obedience because the odds looked bad. There was no clause releasing him from the command if the conversation with his own brother-in-law might get awkward at Thanksgiving. Anyone still asking what does the Bible say about obedience in the face of long odds needs only to reread the scale of that command. Jonah is the obvious cautionary tale here. God told him to go to Nineveh, and Jonah decided he had a better plan, boarding a boat headed the exact opposite direction. God was not offering Jonah a suggestion. Jonah ended up in the belly of a fish, smelling like the ocean floor, before he finally obeyed. The lesson is not subtle: obedience to God does not wait for you to feel good about the assignment or convinced of the ending. Contrast that with David. Before he ever engaged the Philistines at Keilah, David asked the Lord a simple question: should he go fight? God told him to go and fight (1 Samuel 23:2). David did not demand a battle plan or a guaranteed victory report before he moved. He asked one question, obedience or disobedience, and then he acted. That is trusting God's plan in its most stripped-down form. No spreadsheet. No risk assessment. Just a command and a response. What does the Bible say about obedience in moments like these? It says the command comes first, and the results are none of your business. Obedience in the Mundane: The Middle of the Mountain But what does the Bible say about obedience when nobody is watching and nothing dramatic is happening? This is where most men actually live, not in the mountaintop moment of a dramatic call to ministry, but in the middle of the mountain, where the work is repetitive, unglamorous, and largely invisible. Obedience over outcome is easy to talk about in a sermon illustration. It is much harder to practice when you have shared the gospel with the same coworker four times and he still rolls his eyes. Consider the burden of knowledge. If you knew for a fact that a particular person needed to hear about Christ exactly two times before they would respond, would you approach the first conversation with the same intensity as the second? Most men would not. We chase the moment we think will produce the visible win and quietly deprioritize the moments that look like a waste of time. What does the Bible say about obedience in those deprioritized moments? It says they count exactly the same as the dramatic ones. But trusting God's plan means you do not get to choose which assignments matter based on your projected odds of success. Joseph modeled this in the mundane grind of slavery in Egypt. He resisted Potiphar's wife day after day, with zero indication that his integrity would ever be rewarded, recognized, or even survived. He was thrown in prison for his obedience. There was no visible payoff for years. Yet Joseph kept choosing obedience in the daily, unremarkable moments long before Pharaoh ever called him upstairs. That is the real test of what does the Bible say about obedience, not the highlight reel, but the thousand quiet decisions nobody claps for. The Genie Trap: Leading By Example Another critical, often overlooked component of what does the Bible say about obedience is the way we secretly treat God like a genie instead of a King. Answering what does the Bible say about obedience honestly means admitting how often we get this backwards. It is tempting to pray as if faith operates on a transactional exchange rate: enough obedience deposited equals a withdrawal of blessing, on your preferred timeline, in your preferred color. Some men will not say it out loud, but they are quietly praying for the red Lamborghini and calling it faith when they mean entitlement. That posture cannot survive contact with real obedience over outcome. Jesus modeled the opposite in the garden the night before His crucifixion, asking if the cup could be passed from Him, and then immediately surrendering: "Not my will, but yours, be done" (Luke 22:42). If the Son of God submitted His own preferred outcome to the Father's plan, no man reading this has the standing to demand his obedience produce a specific, guaranteed result. You cannot fake your way through this. Your kids, your coworkers, and your own conscience have an incredibly tuned radar for a man who talks about surrender but actually operates on a transaction. If you demand obedience from your household while quietly negotiating terms with God behind closed doors, your example is completely undermined. What does the Bible say about obedience modeled in private? It says the private version is the real version. Trusting God's plan has to be modeled in the small, unwatched moments before it means anything in public. The Power of Presence: You Are Not Doing This Alone The positive flip to all of this is that what does the Bible say about obedience also includes a promise, not just a command. Jesus did not send His followers into the Great Commission and then disappear. The same verse that commands obedience also guarantees presence: "And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:20). Obedience over outcome does not mean obedience in isolation. It means obedience with the Holy Spirit actively moving alongside you the entire way. This should change how a man approaches the hard conversation, the risky decision, or the assignment that looks likely to fail by every human metric. You are not the only variable in the equation. Trusting God's plan means recognizing that the results were never full

Thursday, 2 July 2026   Then the multitudes who went before and those who followed cried out, saying: “Hosanna to the Son of David! ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!' Hosanna in the highest!” Matthew 21:9   “The ‘also crowds', those preceding, and those following, they croaked, saying:   ‘Hosanna! The ‘Son, David'! Having been blessed, the ‘coming in Name, Lord!' Hosanna in the uppermosts!'” (CG)   In the previous verse, it was noted that a great multitude spread their clothes on the road while others cut down branches from the trees, spreading them on the road as well. It next says, “The ‘also crowds'.”   These would be those just described who thronged around Jesus. The scene would have been rather incredible with Jesus in their midst, being highlighted among them. The description of the crowds is seen in the words, “those preceding, and those following.”   Some wanted to lead the way, as if they were a king's guards, going before him to herald his name and clear out anyone who stood in the way to hinder the progress. Others would follow behind, as if they were a king's loyal subjects, willing to follow him into battle or in a victory procession. Such a scene is recorded in 1 Samuel –   “Now it had happened as they were coming home, when David was returning from the slaughter of the Philistine, that the women had come out of all the cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet King Saul, with tambourines, with joy, and with musical instruments. 7 So the women sang as they danced, and said: ‘Saul has slain his thousands, And David his ten thousands.'” 1 Samuel 18: 6, 7   Of those who went before and followed after Jesus, it notes that “they croaked.”   The word has been seen before, krazó, to croak as a raven. Thus, it would be a distinct and loud shout from the masses. They were “saying: ‘Hosanna! The ‘Son, David'!”   It is a new word in the New Testament, coming from the Hebrew words yasha, to save, and na, pray, as in “pray tell.” The form of the verb in the Hebrew would be causative imperative with an emphatic paragoge, thus hoshia (you must surely cause to save) na, pray. The importance of this is because it is what is recorded in the 118th Psalm –   “Oh, pray, Yehovah! You must (surely) cause to save (hoshia), pray (na)!” Psalm 118a (CG)   The people were aware that the psalm anticipated the coming Messiah. Their calling out “Hosanna” was an acknowledgement that they believed that He is the fulfillment of that expectation. Their words of this acknowledgment continue with, “Having been blessed, the ‘coming in ‘Name, Lord'!”   This is also found in the 118th Psalm –   “Blessed the ‘coming' in ‘name, Yehovah'.” Psalm 118:26a (CG)   Matthew's words in the Greek use a perfect participle, “having been blessed.” That is followed by a present participle “coming.” Thus, it indicates that the people are proclaiming that Jesus was the fulfillment of the anticipated Messiah and that He continues to fulfill that role. His coming is in the name of Yehovah.   There is no doubt about the intent of their proclamation. The people believe Jesus has been appointed by Yehovah to work His salvation in the name of Yehovah. Because of this, they continue, saying, “Hosanna in the uppermosts!”   Another new word is seen, hupsistos, the plural of hupsos, elevation. Thus, it is a superlative normally translated as “highest.” To preserve the plural, the word “uppermosts” gives the most literal sense. This would be comparable to the Hebrew and Aramaic adjectives elyon, uppermost. When referring to God, it is normally translated as Most High.   It should be noted that the words of the people do not mean that they believed Jesus is God. Rather, they believed He was sent by God to fulfill the messianic role and promises contained in Scripture. It is only in the resurrection and the theology surrounding that event (mixed with an understanding of the virgin birth) that the deity of Christ Jesus can be deduced and explained.   Life application: There is no doubt that the masses of Israel thought that Jesus was the anticipated Messiah. However, the rulers, meaning those who spoke for the nation, rejected this. In their rejection of Him, they had Him crucified.   In His crucifixion, the people then believed the lies of the leaders. Many were saved through faith in Jesus after the resurrection, as testified to in Acts. However, the nation as a whole was led astray by the leaders. In their rejection of Him, they were punished according to the curses set forth in the Law of Moses.   A point should be gleaned from this. We should not allow our spiritual understanding of what God is doing to rest in the hands of others. It is true that we have leaders appointed over us for gaining knowledge about the word, and about what God has done and is doing.   But we should not blindly trust anyone. Look at the disaster that has been caused in cults like the Seventh Day Adventists, the Mormons, the Jehovah's Witnesses, etc. Look at how people follow Roman Catholicism without regard to Scripture.   Our doctrine and theology must be derived from somewhere. Where is it that you should obtain it? The answer is from God. As God has given us the Bible for this purpose, we should be in the Bible, studying it, and checking out what we are told. Israel, the entire nation of them, has been led astray by false leaders for two thousand years.   Many in the church have followed suit, following leaders who have misdirected people away from the truth of God in Christ. Don't let anyone do this to you. KNOW YOUR BIBLE and check what you are told.   Lord God, help us to be responsible and check out everything we are told. Your word alone is the instruction we need to know You and what You expect. As we are taught from it, give us the wisdom to then verify what we have been instructed. Amen.

There is a series of theological debates between Rabbi Yehoshua ben Hananya and the Roman emperor, which demonstrate the sublimity of God through man's inability to look directly at the sun or to sustain the natural armies that serve God. A similar discussion with the emperor's daughter, who scoffed at the providence of God in the world, leads to a punishment of leprosy being inflicted upon her, emphasizing the principle that God's presence is indirectly guiding the world. Rav Yehuda defines the difference between the dimensions of an ox and a donkey that affect the laws of buying and selling. He also explains that the ox sacrificed by Adam possessed only a single horn on its forehead, and that its horns preceded its hooves in creation. This structural precedence supports the view of Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi, according to which all works of creation were created in their full stature, their full understanding, and their full mature form. Rabbi Chanina bar Papa expounds that the Angel of the World praised the grasses when they applied a kal v'chomer argument and proactively emerged according to their specific kinds (without intermixing), as derived from Genesis 1:11–12. Rabbi Shimon ben Pazi reconciles the scriptural contradiction regarding the creation of the luminaries, detailing the moon's claim that two kings cannot share a single crown, which prompted the divine decree for it to diminish itself. To appease the moon, God granted it dominion by both day and night, linked Israel's calendar to the moon's counting of days and years, and called righteous people "small" like the moon. However, the moon was not appeased by all of these attempts, and God then established a sin offering to be offered on Rosh Chodesh (the New Moon) - a male goat - as an atonement for God. Rav Asi reconciles a contradiction in Creation regarding the emergence of vegetation, explaining that the grass remained hidden at the opening of the ground until the prayer of Adam brought down rain and caused them to sprout, teaching that God desires the prayers of the righteous. Rav Chanan bar Rava identifies the shesua as a unique creature possessing two backs and two spinal columns - as definitive proof that the Torah is from Heaven, as it is impossible to believe that Moshe knew of the existence of that creature. Reish Lakish analyzes a series of seemingly redundant verses, emphasizing that they constitute the core essentials of the Torah itself. For example, the description of the displacement of nations in the land of the Philistines and the land of Moab via intermediary conquests was legally meant to permit the eventual conquest of the land without violating ancient oaths or divine decrees.

Have people ever counted you out because of what you look like, what your background is, or what they think you're capable of? In this week's call, we are breaking down why you need to drop the baggage, stop listening to the critics, and remember that you are significantly stronger than you think.It all starts with a quick personal story about a surprise encounter with an unwelcome visitor—a bee—that reminded me just how fiercely we have to fight when something invades our personal space.That little battle led me straight to 1 Samuel 17:32-49, the classic story of David and Goliath. When King Saul tried to count David out and tell him he wasn't qualified to fight the Philistine, David didn't just back down. He ran down his entire professional resume! He reminded Saul of the lion and the bear he had already defeated.Here is what we are standing on this week: Your Labor is Not in Vain: Just like David, your past preparation matters. Speak boldly about what God has brought you through. God Puts His Super on Your Natural: David didn't defeat Goliath with heavy armor that didn't belong to him. He used what he knew, and God gave him supernatural strength to win the battle. You are Victorious by Default: We aren't fighting for victory; we are fighting from victory because Jesus has already won the war. It's a fixed fight!

God's punishment is....hemorrhoids?!In today's episode, Pastor Derek and Pastor Jackie continue through their Strange Scriptures series and talk through an account in 1 Samuel 5 and 6 involving the Philistines, some rats, and tumors. We look into what caused this form of judgment, why God used these exactly, and what we can take from this account and apply to our lives today!The 17:17 podcast is a ministry of Roseville Baptist Church (MN) that seeks to tackle cultural issues and societal questions from a biblical worldview so that listeners discover what the Bible has to say about the key issues they face on a daily basis. The 17:17 podcast seeks to teach the truth of God's Word in a way that is glorifying to God and easy to understand with the hope of furthering God's kingdom in Spirit and in Truth. Scriptures: 1 Sam. 5; 1 Sam. 6; Psa. 78:66; Judg. 16:23-25; Deut. 28:27; Judg. 1:33; Exo. 20:3; Jer. 10:10; Gal. 6:7; Rom. 1:18.If you'd like access to our show notes, please visit www.rosevillebaptist.com/1717podcast to see them in Google Drive!Please listen, subscribe, rate, and review the podcast so that we can reach to larger audiences and share the truth of God's Word with them!Write in your own questions to be answered on the show at 1717pod@gmail.com.  God bless!

There is a series of theological debates between Rabbi Yehoshua ben Hananya and the Roman emperor, which demonstrate the sublimity of God through man's inability to look directly at the sun or to sustain the natural armies that serve God. A similar discussion with the emperor's daughter, who scoffed at the providence of God in the world, leads to a punishment of leprosy being inflicted upon her, emphasizing the principle that God's presence is indirectly guiding the world. Rav Yehuda defines the difference between the dimensions of an ox and a donkey that affect the laws of buying and selling. He also explains that the ox sacrificed by Adam possessed only a single horn on its forehead, and that its horns preceded its hooves in creation. This structural precedence supports the view of Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi, according to which all works of creation were created in their full stature, their full understanding, and their full mature form. Rabbi Chanina bar Papa expounds that the Angel of the World praised the grasses when they applied a kal v'chomer argument and proactively emerged according to their specific kinds (without intermixing), as derived from Genesis 1:11–12. Rabbi Shimon ben Pazi reconciles the scriptural contradiction regarding the creation of the luminaries, detailing the moon's claim that two kings cannot share a single crown, which prompted the divine decree for it to diminish itself. To appease the moon, God granted it dominion by both day and night, linked Israel's calendar to the moon's counting of days and years, and called righteous people "small" like the moon. However, the moon was not appeased by all of these attempts, and God then established a sin offering to be offered on Rosh Chodesh (the New Moon) - a male goat - as an atonement for God. Rav Asi reconciles a contradiction in Creation regarding the emergence of vegetation, explaining that the grass remained hidden at the opening of the ground until the prayer of Adam brought down rain and caused them to sprout, teaching that God desires the prayers of the righteous. Rav Chanan bar Rava identifies the shesua as a unique creature possessing two backs and two spinal columns - as definitive proof that the Torah is from Heaven, as it is impossible to believe that Moshe knew of the existence of that creature. Reish Lakish analyzes a series of seemingly redundant verses, emphasizing that they constitute the core essentials of the Torah itself. For example, the description of the displacement of nations in the land of the Philistines and the land of Moab via intermediary conquests was legally meant to permit the eventual conquest of the land without violating ancient oaths or divine decrees.

Keep asking! Nothing Is Too Big or Too Small! 1 Samuel 9:16 “Tomorrow about this time I will send to you a man from the land of Benjamin, and you shall anoint him to be ruler over my people Israel. He shall save my people from the hand of the Philistines, for I have seen the suffering of my people because their outcry has come to me.” What stood out to me when I read this verse was the very last line. In this verse, God is talking to Samuel right before Saul shows up. God said that He will save His people from the hands of the Philistines because He has seen the suffering and because their outcry has come to Him. That is the part that stood out to me. He heard their outcry. I have been encountering more and more people who don't pray for what they need unless it is a huge deal. If they don't need a miracle, they aren't asking God for anything. I understand this sentiment. I mean, God is busy; He is doing important things, and we don't want to waste His time with our small issues. When we do this, we are saying that God has a finite amount of power. We are assuming that He won't have enough time or enough power to deal with the bigger issues and our smaller issues. God's time and power are infinite. There are no limits to time or power for God. We never have to worry that our request will take God away from someone else. He is with each one of us 100% of the time. Not only can God take care of the little things, but He also wants to. He cares about every aspect of our lives. When we ask Him to help us, to take care of things, we are showing Him that we trust Him. We are showing Him that we want Him in all aspects of our lives. There are so many areas where I see people suffering, and they aren't asking God for help. I understand and believe that redemptive suffering is a thing. I believe that our prayers can be more powerful when we are in the midst of great suffering. I believe that if we can offer our suffering up for others, that is a powerful and beautiful thing. I don't believe that God wants us to suffer for the rest of our lives. I don't believe that if we have asked God for healing once or twice and it hasn't happened, then that means that God isn't going to heal us. I don't know why some people have chronic pain and have been suffering for a very long time. I don't know why it seems like God heals some people, and yet it seems like He doesn't heal others. His ways are higher than our ways, and His thoughts are higher than our thoughts. I do believe God wants us to ask for healing. I do believe He wants to hear the words come out of our mouths. God believes in free will. If we aren't asking Him for healing, He is probably not going to be healing it. From all that I have learned, God wants us to be actively engaged in our relationship with Him. He doesn't just want us to sit back and have a hands-off relationship with Him. I don't believe He wants us to hold anything back from Him. I don't believe He thinks anything is too big or too small for Him. We have been told in our Encounter Ministries class that God cares just as much about our hangnail as He does about someone else's cancer. It is not one or the other with God. It is everything. At the Encounter summer intensive, there was a woman who was saying that she had pain and stiffness in her hips. When she sits for any length of time, she has a hard time getting back up and a hard time walking afterward. For a year now, she hasn't been able to wear shoes with laces because of the stiffness in her hips. She couldn't bend down to tie them. She was prayed over at the end of the healing night for the summer intensive, and the next day she could bend down and tie her shoes again. Do you see? God even cares about what kind of shoes you want to wear. In the verse above, God sent Saul to save His people from the Philistines. He did this because He heard them crying out. Are you crying out? Are you asking God for help? I am not saying that we need to just sit around and cry out to the Lord all the time. I am not saying we should be complaining about our pain or our circumstances either. What I am saying is that we don't have to be afraid to ask God for something. We don't have to feel like we are bothering Him. When we don't ask Him, we are depriving Him of the opportunity to help us. Think about how good you feel when you help someone out of a difficult situation. Think about the satisfaction and the joy you get when you help others. Now, think about how God might feel when He gets to be your savior and when He gets to save you from whatever it is you are going through, big or small. If you have chronic pain, you may be praying to God all the time, and yet you are not seeing healing. If this is the case, I am so sorry. I wish we could understand why God does what He does. However, if you are in chronic pain and you used to ask God to heal you and now you have given up asking, I ask you to start again. I don't know why He hasn't healed you yet. I don't know what His plan is or when He wants to heal you. I do believe with all my heart that He does want to heal you. I do believe He wants you to keep asking for the healing. I believe he wants you to keep believing that healing is possible, that you are deserving of healing, and that He loves you more than anything else in this whole world. I am not sure I believed healing of chronic pain was possible. I mean, I think I truly believed it in my heart, and yet there was still doubt. I mean, if He wanted it healed, He would have done it already, right? Then I prayed with my aunt. She had pain in her legs for over 5 years. She couldn't walk without pain. It had gotten so bad that she had to quit her job 9 months earlier, and she was basically bedridden, as when she walked, her pain was level 11. I told her we could pray together and that I believed God wanted to heal her. This was true, and yet I didn't know what it would be like. I mean, she has had pain for so long. Surely if God wanted to heal her, He would have. We prayed, and she saw no change. We kept praying for a while. She didn't have much change that night or the next day. However, a few days later, she got out of bed and was completely pain-free.  How amazing is God? Yes, he could have healed her at any time, and yet He chose that specific day. We don't know why, and we may never know why this side of heaven. We are just happy that my aunt kept asking Him and didn't give up and just accept that as her fate. She could have said no to my praying with her. She could have thought there was no point. But she said yes, and God came through for her. He can do this for you too! Please don't stop asking. Please don't think things are too big or too little for God. Please don't feel like anything you ask would ever be an inconvenience to God or that you would bother Him. I don't think anything makes Him happier than when we turn to Him, and when we show Him, we trust Him by entrusting our petition to Him. Another important piece to this, which I won't go into but I do want to mention, is that we should not just ask God for things, but we should praise Him daily as well. Thank Him for all that He has done and continues to do for you. Show God you are thankful for what He has done, and He will continue to do more. God loves you. He wants to be there for you. Trust Him and share everything with Him. Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today. Lord, we want to bring things to you. Please help us. Help us get rid of our feeling of not enough and our feeling that we would be bothering you with our requests. Please help us to see that you are there for us in the big and the small ways. Please help us to see that you care about all the details of our lives, even the little ones. Lord, give us the strength and the courage to keep asking, even if it is something that we have asked for many times before. Help us to keep asking, Lord. We love you, and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus' holy name. Amen! Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. I look forward to seeing you again tomorrow. Remember, Jesus loves you, and so do I! Have a blessed day! www.findingtruenorthcoaching.comCLICK HERE TO DONATECLICK HERE to sign up for Mentoring CLICK HERE to sign up for Daily "Word from the Lord" emailsCLICK HERE to sign up for my newsletter & receive a free audio training about inviting Jesus into your daily lifeCLICK HERE to buy my book Total Trust in God's Safe Embrace

In this Bible Story, we learn about Ahaziah's short reign as king over Israel. He falls from the top of his upper room and injures himself beyond repair. He sought the healing and guidance of the Philistine gods, but is instead met with Elijah's rebuke and God's justice. This story is inspired by 2 Kings 1. Go to https://www.BibleinaYear.com and learn the Bible in a Year.Today's Bible verse is 2 Kings 1:15 from the King James Version.Episode 128: As Elijah traveled with his servant Elisha throughout the land of Israel, they crossed the Jordan river, pausing for a moment Elisha asked his master for a blessing, a double portion of the Spirit that was on Elijah. Though this was not something he personally could give, he said that if his servant should see him as the Lord took him away, then it would happen. As they continued walking along the path the sky opened up and chariots of fire descended to receive Elijah taking him away.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

The sermon examines David's decision to flee to the Philistines in 1 Samuel 27, highlighting how prolonged stress and fear can lead even faithful believers to take spiritual detours. It contrasts David's previous reliance on God with his current self-reliant logic, emphasizing the danger of making decisions without consulting the Lord. The preacher encourages listeners to recognize their own humanity and struggles, urging them to speak biblical truth to themselves rather than succumbing to doubt. Key applications include being careful about the internal narratives one accepts and understanding that comfort does not always equate to God's will. Ultimately, the message offers hope by affirming that God remains faithful even when human faith wavers.

Sermon Outline: "You Can Get There from Here" I. Introduction: The Divine Waymaker Overcoming the World's Directions: In the natural world, when asking for directions, people might discouragingly tell you, "You can't get there from here." However, God specializes in impossible routes. No matter your starting point or how dead-end your situation seems, God can get you to your divine destination. The Invisible Path: Reading from Psalm 77:19, Pastor Rhonda highlights that God's road often leads straight through the sea and mighty waters—paths that no one even knew existed, leaving no human footsteps behind. The God of Action: Citing Psalm 77:13-14, we serve a great God who actively makes things happen and pulls His people out of the worst kind of trouble. II. Point 1: Start Right Here (The Beauty of the Sanctuary) Choosing a New Path: In Psalm 84, the sons of Korah write about longing for the courts of the Lord. This is significant because their ancestor, Korah, rebelled and was destroyed. Yet, his descendants chose a different path. You may come from generations of brokenness, but you can choose today to serve the Lord. Proximity Over Position: The house of God is beautiful not because of its physical architecture or staging, but because it is where God's people gather to corporately meet with Him. A Day in His Courts: According to the Psalmist, a single day in God's courts is better than a thousand days spent anywhere else. Proximity to God trumps any secular privilege—even a debt-free million-dollar resort or a palace. Strength to Strength: In the sanctuary, believers draw dynamic strength from one another's testimonies—seeing brothers and sisters who have conquered cancer, beaten addictions, and defied medical odds. Together, they pass through the Valley of Baca (weeping) and turn it into a place of fresh, living springs. III. Point 2: Remember God's Track Record The Roundabout Way: When God delivered Israel out of Egypt (Exodus 14), He intentionally did not lead them along the shortest route through Philistine territory. God stated His strategy: He knew that if they faced an immediate battle, they would get discouraged and turn back. Strategic Position vs. Apparent Mistake: God purposefully led them on a roundabout way through the wilderness to camp at a perceived dead end at Baal Zephon. To Pharaoh and the enemy, it looked like they were wandering aimlessly and trapped by the wilderness. The Enemy's Trap: What the world or the enemy labels as a disastrous mistake is actually God's hidden strategy. God didn't build a dead end to trap His people; He built a trap to eliminate their enemy. IV. Point 3: Trust the God Who Takes You Through the Obstacle Through, Not Around: When the crisis hit at the Red Sea, God did not build a bridge over it, send boats to carry them, or take them around it. He took them straight through it. The obstacle itself became the road. Night Season Operations: God blew back the waters all through the night season. When you are in your own dark night season and cannot see a way forward, that is precisely when God is operating behind the scenes to clear your pathway. The Mystery of the Dolphin Skins: In Exodus 26:11, God instructs Moses to cover the ceiling of the Tabernacle's tent of meeting with dolphin skins. While finding sea creatures in the middle of a dry wilderness seems impossible, Jewish history and various scholars suggest a powerful reason: As the Israelites crossed the Red Sea with walls of water stacked high on either side, they could see the marine life. They carried those skins into the wilderness as a permanent structural reminder in their ceiling to look up and remember: “We did not get here by ourselves; it was the Lord who redeemed us.” The Right to Cross Over: Because the blood of Jesus has purchased you, you are legally classified as the redeemed of the Lord, giving you an absolute right to cross over your barriers. V. Point 4: Trust the Process from the Manger to the Throne God's Unconventional Pathways: Throughout history, God has continuously built unexpected avenues of deliverance using unlikely people: He anointed a heathen king named Cyrus to march through the Euphrates River at night to overthrow Babylon and deliver His weeping people. He anointed a simple cupbearer named Nehemiah to stand before King Artaxerxes to secure the rebuilding of Jerusalem's ruined walls. Shouting to the Mountain: When holy projects stop halfway and leave you in disappointment, we must speak the prophetic words of Zechariah 4:7: Cry "Grace, grace" to the mountain, and it shall be leveled into a plain. The Humble Arrival: When the King of Kings arrived, He bypassed the expected pathways of Middle Eastern royalty—the velvet tapestries, marble floors, and royal heralds. Instead, He started in a dusty, earthy manger filled with straw and the smell of livestock. Palace Transmutations: God took a route no human saw coming. If God can navigate a path from a low, dirty manger straight to the right hand of the Throne, He can take the "manger" situations of your life and turn them into a palace. VI. Conclusion: No Throne Without the Cross The Strategic Weapon: The cross was naturally a site of execution, sin, deep shame, and public humiliation. The religious elite and demonic principalities assumed Jesus could never reach the throne from such a low place of defeat. Returning to the Feet of the Cross: The cross is not just the entry point of your salvation; it is your ongoing structural weapon against the enemy. When you are bullied by fear, intrusive thoughts, or defeat, return to the feet of the cross where the veil was torn, sin was destroyed, and shame was paid back. The Third Day Resurrection: The apparent defeat of the cross was turned around on the third day when Jesus was triumphantly resurrected from the tomb. Because of that structural victory, God has highly exalted Him and given Him a name that reigns supreme over cancer, sickness, debt, and every dead-end trap of the enemy. Scripture Index Here are the primary scriptures read, cited, or expounded upon during the service: Psalm 77:19 > "Thy way is in the sea, and thy path in the great waters, and thy footsteps are not known." Psalm 77:13-14 > "Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary: who is so great a God as our God? Thou art the God that doest wonders: thou hast declared thy strength among the people." Psalm 84:1-2 > "How amiable [lovely] are thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts! My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the Lord: my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God." Psalm 84:6-7 (Referenced) – Passing through the Valley of Baca [weeping] and making it a well, as they go from strength to strength. Psalm 84:10 > "For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness." Exodus 14 (Referenced) – The account of God leading Israel the roundabout way through the wilderness to camp at Baal Zephon, and Pharaoh assuming they were trapped. Isaiah 51:9-10 (Paraphrased) – Awaking the arm of the Lord to put on strength as in ancient generations, drying up the great deep to make a road for the redeemed to cross over. Exodus 26:11 / Exodus 36:19 (Referenced) – The structural command to cover the tent of the Tabernacle with a covering of dolphin skins [badger/sea-cow skins in some translations]. Zechariah 4:7 > "Who art thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain: and he shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace unto it." Isaiah 51:11 (Referenced) – The redeemed of the Lord returning and coming with singing unto Zion, with everlasting joy upon their heads. Numbers 6:24-26 (The Benediction) > "The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace." "Thanks for listening! For more information, visit churchoftheharvest.com. Don't forget to follow us on Facebook and YouTube @cothcleveland.

SHOW NOTES   In Podcast Episode 381, “Defining Moment vs. Moment of Defiance,” Kim discusses the similarities and differences between King Zedekiah of Judah and Samson. Both leaders had opportunities in the midst of great adversity to cry out to God, but only one used his voice to beg God to intervene. What became a defining moment for Samson was only one last moment of defiance for Zedekiah, and his life and legacy are found lacking.   Our focal passage for this episode is 2 Kings 25:1-7, with 7 as the focal verse:   7 They made Zedekiah watch as they slaughtered his sons. Then they gouged out Zedekiah's eyes, bound him in bronze chains, and led him away to Babylon.   Lagniappe:   21 So the Philistines captured him and gouged out his eyes. They took him to Gaza, where he was bound with bronze chains and forced to grind grain in the prison…28 Then Samson prayed to the Lord, “Sovereign Lord, remember me again. O God, please strengthen me just one more time. With one blow let me pay back the Philistines for the loss of my two eyes.” 29 Then Samson put his hands on the two center pillars that held up the temple. Pushing against them with both hands, 30 he prayed, “Let me die with the Philistines.” And the temple crashed down on the Philistine rulers and all the people. So he killed more people when he died than he had during his entire lifetime. (Judges 16: 21, 28-30)     WEEKLY ENGAGEMENT FEATURE:   As you ponder the moments described in Samson's and Zedekiah's lives, what lessons did the Lord bring to your mind?   Additional Resources and Scriptures:   2 But neither King Zedekiah nor his attendants nor the people who were left in the land listened to what the Lord said through Jeremiah. (Jeremiah 37:2) Jeremiah 39:1-10 Facebook Group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/encouragingothersinlovingjesus X - https://x.com/eoinlovingjesus?s=21&t=YcRjZQUpvP7FrJmm7Pe1hg INSTAGRAM -  https://www.instagram.com/encouragingothersinlovingjesus/ “Encouraging Others in Loving Jesus” YouTube Channel: Check it out at https://www.youtube.com/@EncouragingOthersInLovingJesus   I WANT TO BEGIN A PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP WITH JESUS CHRIST.   RESOURCES USED FOR BOOK OF 1 & 2 Kings (1 & 2 Chronicles) PODCASTS: “The Wiersbe Bible Commentary: The Complete Old Testament OT in One Volume” “Christ-Centered Exposition: Exalting Jesus in 1 & 2 Kings” by Tony Merida “The Tony Evans Bible Commentary: Advancing God's Kingdom Agenda” “Life Application Study Bible” “The Swindoll Study Bible: NLT” by Charles R. Swindoll Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary “The Baker Illustrated Bible Background Commentary” by J. Scott Duvall and J. Daniel Hays (Editors) Expositor's Bible Commentary (Abridged Edition): Old Testament, 2004, by Kenneth L. Barker, John R. Kohlenberger, III. xAI. (2026). Grok [Large language model]. https://x.ai/grok/chat      "Encouraging Others in Loving Jesus" Facebook Group:   Our Facebook Group is devoted to providing a place for us to encourage each other through all the seasons of life. Follow the provided link to request admittance into “Encouraging Others in Loving Jesus”—https://www.facebook.com/groups/encouragingothersinlovingjesus/ Feel free to invite others who will be good encouragers and/or need encouragement to follow Jesus.   This podcast is hosted by Kim Smith, a small town Country Girl who left her comfort zone to follow Jesus in a big City World. Now, she wants to use God's Word and lessons from her faith journey to encourage others in loving Jesus.   In each episode, Kim will share insights regarding a portion of God's Word and challenge listeners to apply the lessons to their daily lives.   If you want to grow in your faith and learn how to encourage others in loving Jesus, subscribe and commit to prayerfully listening each week.   Remember, “It's Always a Trust & Obey Kinda Day!”   If you have questions or comments or would like to learn more about how to follow Jesus, please email Kim at EncouragingOthersinLovingJesus@gmail.com.     National Suicide & Crisis Lifeline   988   https://988lifeline.org/   Reference: Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Tyndale House Publishers. Holy Bible: New Living Translation. Wheaton, Ill: Tyndale House Publishers, 2004.   Podcast recorded through Cleanfeed and edited through GarageBand. The soundtrack, entitled “Outlaw John McShane” was obtained from Pixabay.     The HIDDEN Episodes:  If you can't access episodes 1-50 on your podcast app (the podcast was then entitled "A Country Girl in a City World - Loving Jesus"), you can get all the content at my Podbean site at https://acountrygirlinacityworldlovingjesus.podbean.com/  

But if it's from God… Acts 5 by William Klock There was a package slip from Canada Post below the mail slot when I got here last Friday.  I was kind of annoyed, because not only did I have no idea where the package was from, for some reason I had to go all the way over to the post office in Comox to pick it up.  And when they handed it to me I was perplexed.  The sender was just some distribution company.  The box was large and heavy.  A mystery.  And when I got it home and opened it up, it was still a mystery.  A boxed set of about fifteen books from a ministry called Be United in Christ.  Nice looking hardcovers.  The set looks expensive.  A few of them were reprints of books by Jonathan Edwards, Jeremiah Burroughs, and Charles Spurgeon, but frustratingly none of the others say a word about their authors and I couldn't find much online about the ministry itself or who's behind it.  The books are a generous gift.  But do I just put them out for you all to take home and read?  Edwards, Burroughs, Spurgeon are okay.  Puritans, not Anglicans, but still part of the same general theological tradition—for the most part.  But are they there just to get me to trust the other anonymous books?  I don't know.  This is the shepherd's dilemma.  I don't have time to read them or really even to meaningfully skim them.  The problem would be solved if I knew something about who sent them. And I think that illustrates well what St. Luke is getting at in our text today.  We'll be looking at Acts 5.  [Page 1084 in the pew Bibles.]  And at first Acts 5 might seem like a series stories or events that are related only because they happened in the order Luke presents them, but are kind of otherwise “random”.  But the more I thought about the Chapter, the more a common theme started to take shape.  So far, Luke has shown us the birth of the church through the preaching of Peter and the work of the Spirit.  And then he's shown us the church taking shape, not just as some new religion—which I think is how we're often (wrongly!) prone to seeing it—but as the fulfilment of God's promises to Israel.  Luke shows us the church as the new temple.  God has returned to his people as he promised, but not to the bricks-and-mortar temple on the mountaintop above Jerusalem. Instead, he's come to indwell the people whom Jesus has purified with his blood.  This is a human temple meant to one day fill the whole earth and with it God's presence.  And Luke has shown us the church not just as a family, but as the family that Israel was always supposed to be, but failed to be; the family in which God is fulfilling his promises through Jesus and the Spirit; the family in which his kingdom, his new creation, his renewed humanity is being born.  It's a community meant to take up the vocation of Jesus and to be prophets, priests and kings, proclaiming the good news about the lordship of Jesus to Jerusalem and Judah—and eventually to the whole world. But as we've seen, it's not just the proclamation.  It's not just the preaching.  That's absolutely necessary.  But it's the lived community—the “family-ness”—of the church that backs up the message and says that this is the real deal.  Because Israel had been talking the talk for a thousand years.  But Israel ended up in exile in Babylon because she failed over and over to walk the walk.  You can't preach light while living in darkness.  You can't claim to be God's people while you worship idols.  You can't proclaim new creation while living like the old.  That's why, at the end of Chapter 4, which we saw last week, Luke talked for a second time about the way the church in Jerusalem became a family and took care of those in need.  They were actively living out the bounty and generosity of God and his new creation.  As the new Israel, they were a little land of milk and honey.  And Luke held up Jospeh the Levite as particularly exemplary, because he unselfishly sold some land and brought the proceeds to the apostles to help their ministry. It wasn't a requirement for church membership.  It sounds like Joseph was wealthy and so he used his wealth to build up the church and it was his way of living out new creation.  And it was obviously unique—not something everyone did—because they nicknamed him Barnabas, which means “son of encouragement”.  And that leads straight into Acts 5 and the story of Ananias and Sapphira.  This couple wanted the same sort of attention Barnabas was getting.  Luke writes, “There was, however, a man named Ananias with his wife, Sapphira.  He sold some property and, with his wife's knowledge, kept back part of the price.  He brought the rest and laid it at the apostle's feet.  ‘Ananias!' said Peter.  ‘Why did the Satan fill your heart to make you tell a lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back part of the price of the land?  While it was still yours, it belonged to you, didn't it?  And, when you sold it, it was still in your power.  Why did you get such an idea in your heart?  It isn't men that you've lied to; it's God!'  When Ananias heard these words he fell down and died.  Everyone who heard about it was scared out of their wits.  The young men got up, took him away, wrapped up his body and buried him.  After an interval of about three hours, his wife came in, not knowing what had happened.  Peter spoke to her.  ‘Tell me,' he said, ‘did you sell the land for this much?'  ‘Yes,” she replied, ‘that was the price.'  ‘So why,' Peter answered, ‘did you agree together to put the Holy Spirit to the test?  Look, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door and they will carry you out too!'  At once she fell down at his feet and died.  The young men were just coming in and they found her dead, so they took her out and buried her beside her husband.  Great fear came upon the whole gathering and on all who heard about these things.” Great fear!  No kidding.  Now, growing up—and for years afterward—I thought this was a story about “tithing”.  In Sunday school we would sing a song about how Ananias and Sapphira got together to conspire a plot to cheat the church and get ahead.  They knew God's power but did not fear it, tried to cheat the Holy Spirit.  Peter prophesied it and they both dropped dead. Uh!  (That “Uh!” was the good part—one of the few times you could be rowdy in church.) And the chorus of the song went on to sing about how God loves a cheerful giver, give him all you've got.  It had me terrified as a kid.  I didn't have any income, but I knew that someday when I did, I'd better give God his due or I might drop dead.  No one ever talked about the part where they lied about what they were giving.  And no one ever paid attention to the context of the story. It is a terrifying story.  Even the people in the church who saw it and heard about, Luke writes, were pretty terrified.  But the way we usually hear about Ananias and Sapphira, I think, gets us worried about the wrong thing.  Because, Brothers and Sisters, this is isn't a story about tithing; it's a story about the need for holiness.  It's a story that reminds us that if we're going to be God's temple, if we're going to be the place where he dwells in the person of his Spirit, if we're going to be the place where the world meets God, we need to take holiness seriously. The first thing that ought to tip us off here is the way these first chapters of Acts are all centred on the temple.  More specifically, they're focused on how the church has become the new temple and how it—particularly through Peter and John spending their days in the old temple—how the church is confronting and challenging the old: the old temple, the old Israel, and the priests and elders associated with both.  The second thing that ought to tip us off is the nature of the story.  It's not a common thing, even in the Bible, for God to just suddenly strike someone dead.  But the few times we do see that happen, what's it associated with?  Think Nadab and Abihu, Aaron's sons, playing around with the holy things of God and offering “strange fire” on the altar.  Zap.  Dead.  Instantly.  And poor Uzzah when David's men were rescuing the ark of the covenant from the Philistines.  They didn't carry it the way God had told them to.  Instead, they put it on a cart.  And the cart started to tip and Uzzah—well meaning, but horribly wrong—reached out to steady it.  And zap!  Uzzah was struck dead on the spot.  I can think of a few other slightly less dramatic.  There was Achan who, in the ruins of Jericho, stole some of the treasure that belonged to the Lord.  His sin had consequences for the whole community of Israel in their next battle, but maybe most importantly, it was the Lord who revealed the guilty to Joshua.  And Achan and his family died.  Or King Uzziah who arrogantly entered the temple to burn incense and was immediately struck with leprosy. The point is this, Brothers and Sisters, if you're going to walk with God, holiness is not an option.  The wages of sin is death.  For the vast majority of us, living and then dying is just so normal that sometimes we need a reminder that life is God's gift, that sin separates us from God, and that we die because of that separation.  Sometimes the reminders are instantaneous, dramatic, and terrifying.  Other times they play out over generations.  Like Israel herself: generation after generation of faithlessness and idolatry that eventually led, for the northern kingdom, to annihilation—national death—and for the southern kingdom exile.  St. Paul warns the Corinthians that some of them are sick and dying because they've abused the Lord's Supper.  In John's revelation, Jesus warns the churches that if they aren't faithful, if they fail to properly represent him and his kingdom, he will take away their lampstands.  They will, as churches, die.  God requires holiness of his people and holiness is serious business.  The church is God's means of making the good news of Jesus known.  The church is God's means of making his new creation visible and real in the world.  And if we undermine the credibility of the gospel through unholiness—well, God is patient—most of the time—but if we refuse to repent, he will make us witnesses to his power and sovereignty through his discipline rather than his blessing. Ananias and Sapphira lied because they wanted a reputation they hadn't earned.  How do we misrepresent the gospel and the kingdom and Jesus?  In what way do we or does the church compromise our witness?  What idols have we set up alongside the cross?  What things do we do that bring public shame on Jesus and the Spirit?  What compromises our holiness?  And do our compromises and our idolatries and our hypocrisies run so deep or are they so common that maybe we no longer even see them.  But people out there do.  And God does.  Brothers and Sisters, that's what the story of Ananias and Sapphira is about. But Acts 5 is more than a terrifying warning to holiness.  It's also an exhortation.  Look at verse 12: “Many signs and wonders were performed by the apostles amongst the people.  They were all together in Solomon's Porch, while none of the others dared join them, though the people spoke highly of them.  But more people, a crowd both of men and women, believed in the Lord and were added to their number.  They used to bring the sick into the streets and place them on beds and mats so that at least Peter's shadow might fall on them as he went by.  Crowds gathered from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing people who were sick or infested with unclean spirits.  All of them were cured.” God struck down the people who were compromising the church's gospel witness, but he blessed the ministry of Peter.  As Luke notes, after the confrontation with the Jewish authorities, no one dared to join him, but when Peter went out with boldness to proclaim the good news, God made him a walking pocket of new creation.  It makes me think of the dead temporarily raised on Good Friday, as if the shockwave of life was so powerful it had an almost undiscriminating effect as it went out from the cross.  The same sort of thing happens with Peter. I think when we read this, our modern democratic mindset has us wondering why we don't see this happening today.  Why doesn't this happen when my shadow falls on people when I'm walking around.  And again, I have to come back to the biblical witness itself.  The point of miracles is that they don't happen every day.  And when they do happen, even in the Bible, they cluster around those times and places where God is doing something new.  They clustered around Jesus and now we see them clustering around the apostles, validating them in the same way they validated Jesus.  And they're happening right at the gate of the temple—God's not so subtle way to announce that, yes, he's come back to dwell with his people just as he promised, but he's not dwelling in the holy of holies in the bricks-and-mortal temple; he's come to dwell in this people purified and made even holier than the holy of holies by the blood of Jesus.  Think of it like a rocket launch.  There's a blast of almost uncomprehensible power that launches a rocket off the ground and into orbit.  Once it's up there, it just needs a little nudge from time to time to keep it there.  This was God's way of launching the gospel. Now, verse 17: “Then the high priest got up and all who were with him, namely the group called the Sadducees.  They were filled with zeal [think “righteous indignation”] and seized the apostles and put them in the public jail.  But an angel of the Lord came in the night, opened the prison doors, and brought them out.  ‘Go and take your stand in the temple,' he said, ‘and speak all the words of this life to the people.'  When they heard this, they went in at early morning and began to teach.  When the high priest arrived with his entourage, they called the official assembly and all the elders of the sons of Israel, and they sent to the prison to have the apostles brought in.  But when the attendants went they didn't find them in the prison.  So they came and reported back.  ‘We found the jail shut up with maximum security,' they said, ‘and the guards were standing in front of the doors.  But when we opened up we found no one inside.'  When they heard these words, the commander of the temple police and the chief priests were at a loss about them, with no idea what had happened.  But then someone came with a message for them.  ‘Look!' he said.  ‘The men you put in prison are standing in the temple and teaching the people.'  Then the commander went with his attendants and brought them.  They didn't use force, though, because they were afraid that the people might stone them.” Luke has a sense of humour.  So does God.  The high priest is full of zeal.  This idea of “zeal” characterised what the Jews of those days thought of as faithfulness.  Their heroes were men like Phinehas, who speared a law-breaking idolater to the ground; like Judas Maccabbeus, who led a revolt against the pagan Geek rulers of Israel.  They were zealous for God and for his law and they burned with anger at anyone who compromised it.  And that's how they felt about the apostles.  Peter and John, just like Jesus, were challenging the temple.  The temple leaders wanted them dead, but they also feared the people.  Everyone else could see new creation and the power of God—life—bursting into the world, but all these guys could see was a threat to the status quo.  And so they throw the apostles into jail.  And God sends an angel to set them free and not just that, but to send them straight back to the temple, to the place where they were arrested.  And there's an urgency to the angel's words.  “Go back the temple.  Take your stand.  Speak the words of this life to the people.” The miracles were wonderful.  The miracles said that God was doing something, that new creation life was breaking in.  That there was something about the apostles.  But Brothers and Sisters, miracles without preaching lead to superstition.  Good works without preaching leave people applauding the people doing the good works.  It's our proclamation, our preaching, our announcement of the good news about Jesus, crucified and risen and lord, that makes sense of the miracles and the good works.  It's the preaching that points people to Jesus—not just in a generic sense to “God”, but specifically to Jesus.  It's the preaching that makes clear that in the Messiah, God has provided a sacrifice that purifies us from the stain of sin to make us fit to be his temple, filled with his own Spirit, to bring his grace and his mercy and his love and his holiness and his new creation to the world.  It's our life as God's working model of new creation that attracts people, but it's our preaching that calls them specifically to Jesus in repentance and faith. This whole chapter is a reminder that preaching alone without holiness and without living out new creation is not enough, but that it's also not enough to live out that new creation, to be a heaven on earth people, even to work miracles.  It has to be accompanied by the proclamation of the good news about Jesus.  Otherwise we're like the mystery box of books.  Who's this from?  Should I trust it?  So the angel sends them back to preach.  And there they are preaching in the temple just as the priests assemble to hold court.  And they send for the accused and no one can find them, until someone runs in and shouts: “They're back preaching right under your noses!” “So,” Luke goes on in verse 27, “they brough them and stood them in the assembly.  The high priest questioned them.  ‘We gave you strict orders, didn't we?' he demanded.  ‘We told you not to teach in this name, but look what you're doing.  You have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and you're trying to bring this man's blood on us.'  ‘We must obey God, not men!' responded Peter and the apostles.  ‘The God of our fathers raised Jesus after you had laid violent hands on him and hanged him on a tree.  God exalted him to his right hand as leader and saviour, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.  We are witnesses of these things and so is the Holy Spirit, which God gave to those who obey him.'  When they heard this, they were infuriated and wanted to kill them.  But then a Pharisee by the name of Gamaliel stood up in the assembly.  He was a law-teacher, highly respected by all the people.  He ordered the men to be put outside for a short while.  ‘Men of Israel,' he said to the gathering, ‘be careful what you do to these men.  Before these times Theudas rose up, claiming to be someone special and about four hundred men went off to join him.  But he was killed and all the people who trusted him were dispersed.  The movement came to nothing.  After that Judas the Galilean arose in the days of the census and drew a crowd after himself.  But he was killed and all those who trusted him were scattered.  So my advice to you now is this.  Leave off from these men; let them be.  You see, if this plan or work is merely human in origin, it will come to ruin.  But if it's from God—well, you won't be able to stop them.  You might even be found to be fighting against God.'  They were persuaded by him and called the apostles back in.  They beat them and told them not to speak in the name of Jesus.  Then they let them go.  They, however, went out from the presence of the assembly celebrating, because they had been reckoned worthy to suffer disgrace for the name.  And all day, in the temple and from house to house, they did not stop teaching and proclaiming the Messiah.” The assembly has the apostles beaten, but they know the scriptures.  They've seen how Jesus suffered and died as part of his ministry to fulfil those scriptures.  So Peter and John and the others take this opposition as confirmation.  And Luke goes into these details here, because this is going to be a pattern throughout the book of Acts.  Suffering for the name of Jesus is a privilege.  But he also highlights the importance of the church's integrity to its—to our—witness.  Again, we are God's temple.  He's returned as he promised, not to the stone building that once sat over Jerusalem, but by filling us—the people purified and made holy by the blood of Jesus.  The beauty of a human temple is that it can grow and grow and grow until it fills the earth with God's presence, with his wisdom, with his gospel life.  But it's also important that the temple remain pure.  Jesus has purified it.  The Holy Spirit has sanctified it.  But we're still human.  We're not perfect—not yet.  Brothers and Sisters, this is why, as Paul puts it, we need to put on the Messiah.  To put off the old, corrupt, sinful and selfish way of being human and put on Jesus and the new life of the gospel, the new life of the Spirit.  To be the holy people Jesus and the Spirit have made us.  To walk in integrity: in our personal affairs, in our relationships, in our marriages, in our business, in our politics, in our finances, in our life together as the church, as the temple.  We really do need to be the new humanity and God's new creation.  We need to be—so much as Jesus and the Spirit make it possible—to be God's future right here in the present.  And we need to take our stand and proclaim the name of Jesus so that when people notice our holiness and our integrity, they'll also know that it's not just us, but that it's all about this Jesus who died and rose again—for us, for them, for the sake of all creation—to forgive, to purify, to heal, and to set to rights.  I can't say exactly what it's supposed to look like.  Acts was unique.  The rocket ship was launching.  Now it's in orbit.  Our shadows are highly unlikely to heal anyone, and yet Peter's shadow and Peter's preaching really do represent the ministry of the faithful church to bring healing to the world, to wipe away tears, to announce what Jesus has done and what Jesus is doing and what Jesus will, finally, one day finish as we bring hope to the world.  Do it with integrity, Brothers and Sisters.  And do it in holiness. Let us pray: O God, the protector of all who trust in you, without whom nothing is strong, nothing is holy: Increase and multiply upon us your mercy; that, with you as our ruler and guide, we may so pass through things temporal, that we lose not our hold on things eternal; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.  Amen.

“David asked the soldiers standing nearby, ‘What will a man get for killing this Philistine and ending his defiance of Israel? Who is this pagan Philistine anyway, that he is allowed to defy the armies of the living God?’” (1 Samuel 17:26 NLT) David may have thought to himself, “This is a joke. This guy can’t be serious!” David was on an errand for his father, who had sent him to the front lines to deliver food to his brothers. He arrived to find Goliath bellowing from the valley, mocking the God of Israel, blaspheming his Lord that he loved so deeply. Goliath was a gigantic Philistine—nine feet and six inches of solid muscle, covered in armor. Every day he would taunt the Israelites, shouting something to the effect of, “I’ll make you a deal. Send someone out to fight me. If he wins, we’ll be your servants. But if I win, you’ll be our servants. Any takers?” No one wanted to go near him. Meanwhile, there stood David. Though David was a musician, a poet, and a tenderhearted guy, he was also as tough as nails. When there were threats against his sheep, he took them on. He had killed a lion and a bear. He wasn’t afraid. And he wanted to know why someone wasn’t responding to Goliath’s challenge. “David asked the soldiers standing nearby, ‘What will a man get for killing this Philistine and ending his defiance of Israel? Who is this pagan Philistine anyway, that he is allowed to defy the armies of the living God?’” (1 Samuel 17:26 NLT). David wasn’t intimidated by this giant because David looked at things differently than everyone else. Everyone else saw a giant of a man and, apparently, a small God. David, however, saw a big God. That giant didn’t intimidate David the way he intimidated everyone else. And we know how that perspective paid off for David in the end. Maybe you have a giant in your life that’s taunting you right now. Maybe it’s some kind of threat. Maybe it’s a habit or an addiction that has you in its grip. Maybe it’s a situation that needs to be dealt with once and for all. Or, in keeping with the theme of preparing for the Harvest Crusade next month, maybe your loved one does not have a personal relationship with Jesus. This giant, so to speak, seeks to control you. It seeks to hurt you. It seeks to torment you. What should you do? Like David, you should see God for who He is and your giant for what it is. Align your perspective with spiritual reality. Nothing in your life is too big for God. Nothing is too complex for Him to solve. Nothing is beyond His experience or expertise. Call on the Lord and pray for His power. Pay attention to His prompts. Be willing to step out of your comfort zone in faith, to do the hard—but doable—things necessary. Attack your giant and see what God does in and through you. Reflection question: How can you attack the most prominent giant in your life right now? Harvest Crusade tickets are fully claimed—but it’s not too late to participate and witness what God does on July 11. Invite your loved ones to watch online with you and make sure you join the waitlist in case more tickets become available. — The audio production of the podcast "Greg Laurie: Daily Devotions" utilizes Generative AI technology. This allows us to deliver consistent, high-quality content while preserving Harvest's mission to "know God and make Him known." All devotional content is written and owned by Pastor Greg Laurie. Listen to the Greg Laurie Podcast Become a Harvest PartnerSupport the show: https://harvest.org/supportSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today's Scripture passages are 2 Samuel 5:17-25 | 1 Chronicles 14:8-17 | 1 Chronicles 11:4-9 | 2 Samuel 5:4-13 | 1 Chronicles 14:1-2 | 2 Samuel 6:1-11 | 1 Chronicles 13:1-14 | Mark 10:13-16 | Luke 18:15-17.Read by Ekemini Uwan.Get in The Word with Truth's Table is a production of InterVarsity Press. For 75 years, IVP has published and created thoughtful Christian books for the university, church, and the world. Our Bible reading plan is adapted from Bible Study Together, and the Bible version is the New English Translation, used by permission.SPECIAL OFFER | As a listener of this podcast, use the code IVPWORD40 for 40% off and free shipping on any IVP resource mentioned in this episode at ivpress.com.Additional Credits:Song production: Seaux ChillSong lyrics written by: Seaux Chill, Ekemini Uwan, and Christina EdmondsonPodcast art: Kate LillardPhotography: Shelly EveBible consultant: JM SmithSound engineering: Podastery StudiosCreative producers: Ekemini Uwan and Christina EdmondsonAssistant producer: Christine Pelliccio MeloExecutive producer: Helen LeeTo reach the IVP podcast team, please use this form.Disclaimer: The comments, views, and opinions expressed in this podcast are solely those of the host and/or the guests featured on the podcast and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of InterVarsity Press or InterVarsity Christian Fellowship.

In this Bible Story, Jehoshaphat becomes king over Judah and rules righteously. He sends out teachers and priests to care for the people, and teach them God's ways. However, his alliance with Ahab the King of Israel proves to be unwise, as Ahab leads them into an unwinnable battle. This story is inspired by 1 Kings 22 & 2 Chronicles 17-19:3. Go to BibleinaYear.com and learn the Bible in a Year.Today's Bible verse is 2 Chronicles 17:10 from the King James Version.Episode 126: Jehoshaphat, King of Judah, spent his time fortifying cities and tearing down idols. He also sent teachers and priests to the surrounding territories so that they might know God. What the King was doing became so influential that even other nations such as the Philistines took notice and sent tribute. Jehoshaphat wanted to extend this peace to his brothers in Israel, so he made an alliance with King Ahab. During their celebration, King Ahab requested Jehoshaphat's help in reclaiming some territory. But Jehoshaphat wanted to hear from the Lord first. So Micaiah was called in and prophesied that this battle would be King Ahab's last.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

Two swords forged in the land of the Philistines. Two kings. One throne. And a literary motif so intricate that scholars have been misreading it for generations.The death of King Saul at Mount Gilboa is one of the most dramatic moments in the Old Testament. But what most people don't realize is that a misinterpretation of the archaeological evidence at Beth Shean has distorted how scholars understand what happened to Saul's body, his armor, and his sword after his death. The text doesn't say what we've been told it says. And once that mistake is corrected, an entire narrative thread running through 1 Samuel 13 to 31 suddenly comes into focus.In this episode of The Dig In Podcast, Johnny Ova sits down with Dr. Chris McKinny, Associate Professor of Biblical Archaeology at Lipscomb University's Lanier Center for Archaeology, senior staff archaeologist at the Tel Burna project in Israel, co-host of the Biblical World Podcast, and on-screen host of the upcoming feature documentary Legends of the Lost Ark. Dr. McKinny has spent over a decade excavating in the land of the Bible and his research on the death of Saul reveals one of the most sophisticated literary devices in all of ancient literature.Together we explore the full arc of David's rise and Saul's fall, including:- Why the only two swords in Israel belonged to Saul and Jonathan and what that means for the narrative- How Goliath's sword becomes a story device that tracks David's entire journey from shepherd to king- The real reason Saul's armor and head were not taken to Beth Shean but to the land of the Philistines- What archaeologists got wrong about Beth Shean and the Philistine temple identification- How the sword motif connects to the Ark of the Covenant as part of a larger literary structure- Why David never used the sword against Saul and how the narrative builds that restraint into the climax- The significance of Nob, the tabernacle, and the sword of Goliath waiting for David- How the geography of the Jezreel Valley, the Shephelah, and the coastal plain shaped the entire conflict- What Judah the Hammer's sword in 1 Maccabees reveals about how ancient readers understood this motif- How this corrected reading elevates the biblical authors as world-class storytellersThis conversation takes us into the archaeology, the geography, and the literary genius of the biblical authors in ways most readers have never considered.Check out Dr. Chris McKinny's work:Legends of the Lost Ark (in theaters April 12, 14, and 15, 2026): https://www.legendsofthelostark.com/Biblical World Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/biblical-world/id1566455453Stay connected with The Dig In Podcast and Subscribe.Website: https://johnnyova.com/Subscribe on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@thejohnnyovaGet a copy of Johnny's latest book about the book of Revelation: https://a.co/d/02v5yH7A

Today's Scripture passages are 1 Chronicles 12:19 | 1 Samuel 29 - 30 | John 11:1-37.Read by Christina Edmondson.Get in The Word with Truth's Table is a production of InterVarsity Press. For 75 years, IVP has published and created thoughtful Christian books for the university, church, and the world. Our Bible reading plan is adapted from Bible Study Together, and the Bible version is the New English Translation, used by permission.SPECIAL OFFER | As a listener of this podcast, use the code IVPWORD40 for 40% off and free shipping on any IVP resource mentioned in this episode at ivpress.com.Additional Credits:Song production: Seaux ChillSong lyrics written by: Seaux Chill, Ekemini Uwan, and Christina EdmondsonPodcast art: Kate LillardPhotography: Shelly EveBible consultant: JM SmithSound engineering: Podastery StudiosCreative producers: Ekemini Uwan and Christina EdmondsonAssistant producer: Christine Pelliccio MeloExecutive producer: Helen LeeTo reach the IVP podcast team, please use this form.Disclaimer: The comments, views, and opinions expressed in this podcast are solely those of the host and/or the guests featured on the podcast and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of InterVarsity Press or InterVarsity Christian Fellowship.

David Fought Goliath Without Armor by Autumn Dickson In 1 Samuel 17, we read about one of the most famous stories in the Old Testament: David and Goliath. It's an incredible story of faith that can teach us a lot about following Christ. The fact that David saved the Israelites was a big deal, but how he defeated Goliath is likewise significant. Let's talk about a couple of those “hows.” Goliath taunts the Israelites for 40 days. David comes forward and offers to battle Goliath. Saul agrees, and he even puts his own armor on David. It doesn't go well… 1 Samuel 17:39 And David girded his sword upon his armour, and he assayed to go; for he had not proved it. And David said unto Saul, I cannot go with these; for I have not proved them. And David put them off him. David tried on the armor and “assayed” to go. In other words, David had a hard time moving. David hasn't “proved” the armor, or in other words, David has never trained with it. He doesn't know how to fight like a soldier, only like a shepherd. So David takes his shepherd weapons, forgoes the armor, and goes on to defeat Goliath. Let's talk about how David defeated Goliath and what it teaches us. Detail 1. He went up with nothing but faith in God; the armor specifically hindered him. A couple posts ago, we talked about how Israel came to Samuel and wanted a king. One of the direct messages we pulled from that story was the fact that the Israelites were rejecting God by wanting a king. They had a King; they wanted a different king. In 1 Samuel 8, the Israelites specifically requested a king because they wanted someone to go out before them in battle. Like other nations, they wanted a physical defender in front of them when they were at war. This is significant. So now we've found ourselves in 1 Samuel 17, and the Israelites are facing the giant Philistines. Goliath goes out and taunts the Israelites for 40 days. And where is Saul? Definitely not out in front of the Israelites. Samuel gave the Israelites their king, King Saul, and then what do you know…Saul doesn't go out before them. No one saw that coming. Shocking, right? When we originally read this story, it would be easy to think David was being an arrogant punk by refusing the armor. Earlier on in the chapter, Eliab (David's oldest brother) gets annoyed with David and accuses him of pride. But this isn't about pride (even if David possessed some of that). This is about the fact that once again, the Lord was saying, “Hey Israel! I will go before you, not some mortal king!” David didn't just outright refuse the armor. He put it on, and it weighed him down. David was better off without man's attempts to fight off Israel's enemies. The principle is NOT this: Don't use anything manmade or you're faithless. Refuse medicine. Refuse gear. The Lord will protect you if you have enough faith. That is not the principle here. Sometimes having faith is understanding that the Lord inspired man to build tools. However, for THIS specific example, it is important that David went without armor that weighed him down. The fact that David went without armor in this specific scenario can teach us the true principle: relying on man over God hurts us. It doesn't help us. This is not every scenario. This is a very specific scenario in which the Lord was very clearly telling the Israelites that He was their King and Defender. The Lord didn't want any confusion about why David won against Goliath. This detail is poignant with the backdrop of the Israelites rejecting God and choosing Saul. They didn't want God's protection; they wanted man's. David and his lack of armor was God's response. Using tools is not wrong, but relying on tools over God is wrong. The armor in this story represents the same thing King Saul represented: insufficient protection from man. King Saul did not help the Israelites. The refused armor would have prevented David from defeating Goliath. Detail 2. David showed up after Goliath had taunted the Israelites for 40 days. So maybe the fact that David showed up after 40 days doesn't necessarily seem like one of the “hows” of David defeating Goliath, but in my unqualified opinion, it is. Gospel according to Autumn teaches this: If David had come sooner, he wouldn't have been able to defeat Goliath because the Israelites wouldn't have let him battle Goliath at all. The number “40” is significant. It is used to describe a period of testing and trial. Christ fasted for forty days. It rained and flooded the earth for forty days. The Israelites wandered the wilderness for forty years. Did Goliath truly taunt them for 40 days exactly or was this the Lord's way of describing a full cycle of testing for the Israelites? Does the 40 really mean 40 or does it teach us that the Israelites had finally reached a point of desperation and were willing to utilize a young boy to fight Goliath? Regardless of whether it was exactly 40 days of taunting, the lesson for us is clear: the Lord allows us to go through a period of testing until we finally reach the point where we are willing to rely on Him alone. Have you ever reached that point in a trial where you're like, “Hey Lord, if you could show up right now, I would really appreciate it! I'm dying down here!” And then He waits even longer before showing up? Perhaps it's not forty days for forty months or forty years. Maybe it's just the right amount of time for your testing period. Maybe it's the right amount of days for us to finally reach a point where we are ready to rely on Christ alone and then recognize His hand when we come out on the other side. That second part is just as important. If the Lord doesn't allow us to wait for the full period, we might attribute our success to something else like our own fortitude. Allowing us to wait until we feel really lost serves the unique purpose of forcing us to realize that He was the only thing that could have saved us. Would the Israelites have let David try his hand against Goliath if they hadn't waited their full “forty” days? Honestly, I have no idea. What I do know is this: They got desperate enough to let him try and when he succeeded, all heaven broke loose and they cheered and ran against the Philistines at the same time. Their faith had been bolstered, and for a small moment, they recognized who was standing at their side. I testify of a Lord who teaches us about Him in incredible detail in these stories. I testify that we start to see patterns as we study these details in the scriptures. More and more and more layers come out and teach us and refine us and help us invite Christ into our lives more fully. I'm so grateful the Lord has taken me on this journey to teach me these lessons in the scriptures. I testify that Come Follow Me can change your life if you use it, and I testify that Come Follow Me can change your life because it can teach you about Christ. Autumn Dickson was born and raised in a small town in Texas. She served a mission in the Indianapolis Indiana mission. She studied elementary education but has found a particular passion in teaching the gospel. Her desire for her content is to inspire people to feel confident, peaceful, and joyful about their relationship with Jesus Christ and to allow that relationship to touch every aspect of their lives. Autumn was the recipient of FAIR's 2024 John Taylor Defender of the Faith Award. The post Come, Follow Me with FAIR – 1 Samuel 17–18; 24–26; 2 Samuel 5–7 – Part 2 – Autumn Dickson appeared first on FAIR.

Join us for fantastic content on our Patreon website: https://www.patreon.com/c/EnlightenEdgeEDU . This week on Patreon we will look at a ton of maps, videos and pictures that will help you picture exactly where David fought Goliath, how he got down to the brook to get the stones and how the Philistines were caught by the Israelites. We have an intense amount of images for you on that, on the place where Saul was killed, and more. Join us and the scriptures will become even more real for you. Also, join us for a live recording event on July 8th in Lehi, where Andrew Skinner and Kerry will answer questions and teach a bit. Be part of the episode and part of the podcast, all for free. You can join via Zoom too. Just email me at TheScripturesAreReal@gmail.com. In this episode Kerry and Dr. Avram Shannon explore the life of David, and what we know about David and how we can learn from and about him. They look into many aspects of his life, delving into that which made David great, and the seeds of his later sins. Then Kerry and Dr. Richard Nietzel Holzapfel explore what the Davidic covenant is, how it differs from other covenants, and why it is important. We are grateful for our executive producers, P. Franzen, J. Parke, D. Watson, B. Van Blerkom, the Dawsons, M. Cannon, M. Rosema, B. Fisher, J. Beardall, D. Anderson, M. Zitar, J. Edwards, A. Dixon, T. Cottrell, and H. Umphlett, and for all our generous and loyal donors. We are also very grateful for all our Patreon members. We are so thankful for Beehive Broadcast for producing the podcast and for Rich Nicholls, who composed and plays the music for the podcast.

→ Watch on YouTube → Detailed Show Notes(00:00) The story of David and Goliath. The Hebrew and Greek versions of 1 Samuel 17 render different accounts of Goliath's height. An overview of Goliath's weapons and armor.(05:10) Goliath as a symbol of the unconquerable foes that we all face. David employs six strategies to defeat Goliath that can also be applied to our challenges.(13:53) The sword of Goliath as an article of kingship and evidence that God is with us.(16:25) King Saul is jealous of David and is obsessed with killing him.(26:32) Jonathan is a true friend to David, even though he has reason to be jealous of his success.(29:56) David continues his quest of goodness, yet Jonathan is not threatened.(32:26) David has opportunity to kill Saul, but doesn’t.(32:55) Nabal rebuffs David and refuses to give him food. Abigail acts as a peacemaker, thus saving Nabal's life.(36:11) King Saul consults with the Witch of Endor for revelation. He interacts with the ghost of Samuel, who has died. This experience with the spiritualist medium destroys hope.(39:31) The Philistine leaders send David away during their attack on Saul's forces. David goes to Ziklag and finds that his city has been sacked by the Amalekites and his family has been taken captive. David rescues all the people and shares the spoils of war.(41:58) The Philistines defeat Israel. King Saul and his sons are slain.(43:19) The rise of King David in 2 Samuel.(46:47) Uzzah is smitten for steadying the Ark.(51:03) David acts as both king and priest in his return to Jerusalem. He wears the ephod and offers sacrifice.(53:50) David obtains the threshing floor, where the Ark will rest. The threshing floor can be seen as the foundation stone, the heart of the Holy of Holies and a symbol of Jesus Christ as Savior of the world.(55:43) David desires to build a temple for the Lord. Nathan prophesies that the House of David will continue forever. This prophecy finds fulfillment in Jesus Christ.(1:02:13) David is not to build the temple, but his son Solomon will built it. → For more of Bryce Dunford’s podcast classes, click here. → Enroll in Institute → YouTube → Apple Podcasts → Spotify → Amazon Music → Facebook The post Ep 376 | 1 Samuel 17-31, 2 Samuel 1-7, Come Follow Me 2026 (June 15-21) appeared first on LDS Scripture Teachings.