Podcasts about second samuel

As we near the end of 2026, we see a world in disarray. The situation with Iran. The sexual perversion we see being celebrated. Total chaos. But we can gain hope and encouragement from God's word, and that's what we hope will happen to you today as we finish our look at Second Samuel twenty-one. It's a time if war for Israel, and King David is getting near the end of his time as Israel's leader. To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.oneplace.com/donate/621/29?v=20251111

I don't have to take a poll of our listeners to say that we've all been guilty of not keeping a promise. While we fail to keep our promises on occasion, God never does. He's a promise giving God and a promise keeping God! This shines through in Second Samuel twenty-one, which is where we're headed today on Sound Doctrine. To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.oneplace.com/donate/621/29?v=20251111

Today on Sound Doctrine we take you to Second Samuel twenty-one, where there was a national calamity taking place in that day . King David did what we should do. He turned to God in prayer. It was a time for David to be seeking the Lord, and pastor Jeff Johnson says we should do the same. To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.oneplace.com/donate/621/29?v=20251111

eff is currently taking us verse by verse through the Old Testament book of Second Samuel. There is one central figure in this book, and that of course is David. But there are a whole bunch of other people as well - some good and some bad. Last time, in Second Samuel twenty, a man named Joab - one of David's main guys, got some help from a wise woman, and it all results in a head being thrown over a wall! Goodness! To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.oneplace.com/donate/621/29?v=20251111

Today we continue pastor Jeff's study in Second Samuel nineteen. There are many great men and women in the Bible. Some and more well-known than others. One of those unsung heroes is a man named Mephibosheth. I'll let pastor Jeff tell the story, but this man with the long name showed a very great amount of wisdom and Godliness when he met up with King David. To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.oneplace.com/donate/621/29?v=20251111

We see rebellion all around us... from the child who puts their foot down in disobedience to their parents, to the adult in prison who refuses to comply with the laws of the land. We even see rebellion applauded on TV., and in the music we buy. But unrighteous rebellion is far from being encouraged in the Scriptures, in fact, as we'll soon see, there are destructive consequences that come to those who would go down that road. Pastor Jeff Johnson takes us now to Second Samuel nineteen, on today's edition of Sound Doctrine. To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.oneplace.com/donate/621/29?v=20251111

Pastor Jeff is developing his study of Second Samuel. In chapter nineteen we find David consumed with grief at the death of his rebellious son. We'll gain important insight and encouragement in how to handle these kinds of situations. To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.oneplace.com/donate/621/29?v=20251111

Today on Sound Doctrine, pastor Jeff Johnson picks up where we left off in our study of Second Samuel. We'll soon see that King David experienced great heartbreak because of his rebellious child. To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.oneplace.com/donate/621/29?v=20251111

Today we'll continue our study of Second Samuel, by turning to chapter seventeen. David is a new man, and has repented from his sin, and is seeking to make things right. Bathsheba's grandfather, Ahithephel, has stored bitterness and resentment in his heart over the course of a ten year period. And now we're about to see him launch a rebellion against David. To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.oneplace.com/donate/621/29?v=20251111

Today on Sound Doctrine we can make an informed choice on where our loyalties will lie. We'll be in chapter sixteen of Second Samuel, where lines have been drawn and choices have been made. Now the consequences of those choices will unfold. To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.oneplace.com/donate/621/29?v=20251111

Today on Sound Doctrine, we're going to begin a study of Second Samuel sixteen, and we're going to see King David having a bad day. Not only is his very own son seeking to get rid of him, he's being pelted with rocks by a bunch of other guys as he flees for safety. To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.oneplace.com/donate/621/29?v=20251111

We've been spotlighting the life of David - learning from his strengths and also his weaknesses. Speaking of which, Second Samuel chapters fifteen through eighteen records the rebellion of David's son Absalom. It underscores the difficulty of raising children and the strength needed when there's failure. To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.oneplace.com/donate/621/29?v=20251111

Today on Sound Doctrine, pastor Jeff returns to Second Samuel. In chapter thirteen, we encounter a strained relationship between a father and son. This results in Absalom the King having his half-brother Amnon killed. To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.oneplace.com/donate/621/29?v=20251111

Today we look again at Second Samuel thirteen. It's remarkable that a man named Absalom will draw the hearts of the nation away from King David and become King himself. Absalom was handsome and winsome… but that's all he was. To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.oneplace.com/donate/621/29?v=20251111

Sexual assault is a serious crime. In the day and age we live in, it is treated very seriously. Back in the days we are looking at in Second Samuel, we see a scene in which Amnon lures his half sister Tamar to his sickbed and assaults her. It's a story with several tragic results. Tamar's life is shaken to the core, and Amnon ends up dead! To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.oneplace.com/donate/621/29?v=20251111

Second Samuel thirteen records the tragic story of Tamar, who was sexually assaulted by her half brother - Amnon. What led to this awful sin? In part -Amnon had a friend who was no friend at all. To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.oneplace.com/donate/621/29?v=20251111

If we look at the biblical record, we see that many times in the past, man has made sin a priority, and the consequences are dire. We'll look at a good example today, as we again go to Second Samuel chapter twelve. King David - a man after God's own heart - has sinned with Bathsheba and the results are devastating. To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.oneplace.com/donate/621/29?v=20251111

Today we continue in the book of Second Samuel chapter twelve, with the story of David's sin, and David's friend Nathan, who cared enough to reprove him. To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.oneplace.com/donate/621/29?v=20251111

As we return to our study of Second Samuel, we encounter one of the lowest points of David's journey on earth. David's adultery and the murder coverup didn't just happen. There were identifiable steps that led to this particular failure. How did this sort of thing happen? That's the question we will pose and seek to answer now with Pastor Jeff Johnson on todays Sound Doctrine. To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.oneplace.com/donate/621/29?v=20251111

Today we bring you the second half of a message pastor Jeff began last time, based in Second Samuel, chapter ten. King David is experiencing the good things about being a leader. His army has defeated the Ammonites and the Syrians, and David is riding high. This, of course, comes just before perhaps the Lowest point in his life - his sin with Bathsheba. To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.oneplace.com/donate/621/29?v=20251111

Today on Sound Doctrine we see how David's kindness was responded to shamefully. And it's a lesson for us today, for those inevitable times of life when kindness is abused. Second Samuel ten is our point of reference. To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.oneplace.com/donate/621/29?v=20251111

Today on Sound Doctrine, pastor Jeff Johnson returns to Second Samuel, and in chapter nine we notice a marvelous display of kindness... a divine kind of love. Stand by for great encouragement! To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.oneplace.com/donate/621/29?v=20251111

Pastor Jeff Johnson is taking us verse by verse through Second Samuel at the present time, and if you'll recall, David has been on the receiving end of overwhelming kindness from his friend Jonathan as well as from God. David didn't forget this, and when he gained power and wealth, he sought to use it to bless and be kind to others. To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.oneplace.com/donate/621/29?v=20251111

Today on Sound Doctrine Pastor Jeff Johnson resumes his study of Second Samuel, chapter seven, David has a Godly desire to bless God's heart, and build a house in the Lord's name. It was a good thing, born out of a good motive. But God said, “No.” We'll see why today on the broadcast. To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.oneplace.com/donate/621/29?v=20251111

Today, Pastor Jeff Johnson will show us how King David desired to build a temple for God, out of a good motive, and yet the Lord declines the offer. This is part off our new series in Second Samuel, so turn to Second Samuel, chapter seven. To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.oneplace.com/donate/621/29?v=20251111

Promises for Provision (audio) David Eells – 7/29/26 We have many revelations on our site of how God has planned to provide for His saints in the coming wilderness tribulation. I'm going to share just a few of these with you today.   God's Warehouse in the Wilderness K. H. - 08/29/2008 In a dream, my mom, sister, nieces, and I were moving into this warehouse that seemed to be off on its own in a way, and if you weren't looking for it, you would miss it. (Many do miss God's warehouse because they don't take His promises seriously and in faith. It is off on its own because it is in the wilderness place of our weakness that His power is made perfect.) As we entered the warehouse, I was amazed at all the things that I saw in it. There were beds, couches, lamps, refrigerators, toys, food, water, etc. (Also, there are eyes that see, organs, limbs, and all heathy things.) It looked like there was anything and everything that we would ever need in there. The enormity reminded me of a store that I went to a few months ago called IKEA (“eye-key-yah”) but it was larger than that and had so much more. In the warehouse, I also saw several more families; some of the kids were playing. There was such joy and peace that filled this large room. We all were just so thankful that we would have all that we would ever need in that warehouse. Praise the Lord! As my mom and I were talking about the dream, she immediately mentioned that God let me see His warehouse or storehouse for His saints. Praise God! Paul says in Philippians 4:19, And my God shall supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. I have experienced God supplying our every need but what a blessing to actually be able to see God's warehouse for those who live in His shelter. This promise is something that the children of God will need to stand on in the coming tribulation. The sum of His Word is truth and no matter what it may look like, the Lord will provide and bring us through. Praise Jesus; thank you, Father!   Obedience In Provision Anonymous 3/30/23 (David's notes in red) I had a vision of an average man. He was suddenly blessed with a very large abundance of money and a driven calling from God. (There are many prophecies of the Man-child being abundantly blessed to build the Kingdom of God.) The man was then led to buy all these businesses and houses that were for sale, and he obtained almost a whole city. (Many people represented by the houses will be coming into the Kingdom in Spirit and Truth. Also, this has been fulfilled by the Lord since this 2023 revelation.) In so doing and led by God, to change a country and giving hope and faith by his example in servitude. Every one of the businesses and houses were for those in need. Housing the poor and the faithful in Christ; businesses were used for His Glory according to the Word and Christ and gave spiritual truth and provision for all their needs to be met. (Again, this has been fulfilled by the Lord since this 2023 revelation. In return, all those he helped then participated with their gifting or their profession, and many helped in genuine love as one community for God, and it grew. The changes even convinced many non-believers not to change it back to what it had been. (This is coming.) (I felt this is our deepest desire to have His Kingdom be established here and now in the physical, not for our own selves but to fulfil the needs of others.)   An Abundance of Provision for the Bride L. W.- 2/3/23 (David's notes in red) I had a dream where I was in what looked like a big warehouse, with bank tellers. (The Father's gift of wealth coming to bank accounts through NESARA that will especially favor the Bride. It is money the D.S. stole from everyone for many years but D.T. found.) I went to get a statement for my account, and when the lady handed it to me, I noticed I had about $37,000,000,000. That's $37 billion. (She was expecting this but had a critical, unforgiving spirit, and I tried to gently warn her, but sadly she lost it all and went to her place.) In the dream, I remember thinking, “Yesterday, I was thinking about how I wanted a billion dollars,” but I hadn't asked God for this. (In real life, I have no desire to be a billionaire. The number 37, in Bible Numerics, means “Word of God”.) (Those who have the Word manifested in them will have all needs met.) In the dream, my goal was to keep the knowledge about how much money I had a secret and use it anonymously for good. I was planning on using it to build a personal house, a church building for UBM, to get my husband a new truck (Which he badly needed at the time), and to help others in need. I remember thinking in the dream that “I would just keep my current car.” End. …In dream #2) It was a sunny day. My husband and I were looking into getting another house. We were looking at one that was multi-story and had two kitchens. UBM was there looking at it with us. I thought that it would be a great place for pot blessings. (All the good she previously had a desire to do.) I remember specifically seeing Gabe and Michael and didn't think much about it. But later in real life, I think the Lord reminded me that two of His archangels are Michael and Gabriel. (His angels watch over the affairs of UBM.) (To render to all according to their works.) …I asked the Lord for a verse by faith at random about these dreams and got Rom. 1:17 For therein is revealed a righteousness of God from faith unto faith: as it is written, But the righteous shall live by faith. (The faithful righteous will be blessed soon!)   Provision to Preserve & Build the Kingdom Eve Brast - 11/05/18 (David's notes in Red) I had a couple of dreams involving a Monopoly game board. It's no coincidence that as I sat down to write this, an announcement on the radio said that on this day in history, November 5, 1935, Parker Brothers introduced the game of Monopoly to the public. (Which had to do with dealing with money.) Dream 1: I was sitting in the dining room of our old house on Vanderbilt Rd. in TX. (Vanderbilt is representative of the wealthy elite... The Vanderbilts were once the wealthiest family in America. Cornelius Vanderbilt was the richest American until his death in 1877. After that, his son William acquired his father's fortune and was the richest American until his death in 1885. The Vanderbilts' prominence lasted until the mid-20th century, when the family's 10 great Fifth Avenue mansions were torn down, and most other Vanderbilt houses were sold or turned into museums in what has been referred to as the “Fall of the House of Vanderbilt”. Wikipedia. (They lost it all as many will do.) But, instead of a dining table, there was a green card table. (The Deep State house of cards is falling.) It was dark in the kitchen area, but there was a light shining down on the card table. (Father is shining the light on the fact that many are gambling with their life.) There was an empty Monopoly board game on the table, where three men with slicked-back, black hair were sitting around the Monopoly board with me. (Black hair represents submission to darkness. The elite behind the Deep State are playing the game of spiritual monopoly, and they are losing due to God.) R. S. was to my right with her hands folded over her forearms, observing the scene. The only thing each of us had been given was the usual amount of Monopoly money that each player receives. There were no houses, hotels, or game tokens to move around the board. (The value is not in the material possessions but in the funny money itself. By her composure, we know that R. S. was resting in the flesh, for she fell away. Eve was just sitting there resting in the Lord. All things are provided freely in our rest from self-works. The monopoly money, thought to be worthless, represents the national currency of nations that have fallen to a very low value. NESARA will change this for the righteous.) Suddenly, a pair of dice appeared above the board as if an invisible pair of hands was shaking them. Then the dice were cast onto the board, and they came up 3 and 4, equaling 7. (God rolls the dice for He holds the future, and He and those who abide in Him, win the game. He has His own people at the table to receive the gift.) The three men all declared, “7!!!” in a defeated and disgusted tone. (God has defeated the elite who planned to use this currency for their own New World Order.) Then they all got up from the table, took all their Monopoly money and stacked it in a large pile on top of my money, and then it all turned into real money as they left the game. (The revaluation of currencies to come up on a par with the dollar, which must lose some of its value to come into alignment. Hence, those with worthless currencies will find they have become real money. This is necessary to have a GCR or global currency reset, where all come to the same value. In the short term, this will be used to build the Kingdom, as in the temple of God, which is His people. The elite had planned to take the Christians down, and then they would take all. But Trump, who, as Cyrus did, will contribute Babylon's vast hidden wealth towards the temple of God's people.) I then realized I'd won even though I didn't know I'd been playing. (None of us has been playing, but like this, it will be given to us by God's roll.) R. S. then said, “Wow, Eve! You really made out!” (Eve could represent herself and the corporate Bride). I was so amazed by this. Then I woke up and I looked at my phone, and the time was 3:33 am. (I thought of Jeremiah 33:3 because I had asked Father to show me more about His plans and what He is doing currently. Jer. 33:3 Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and will show thee great things, and difficult, which thou knowest not. (I said months ago I wondered if the elite would be taken down so that they could not be involved in this revaluation and that their currencies' value would then be left to be divided to the people of God. Now I know it was a word of knowledge.) I asked Father for a word concerning the Monopoly game and the black-haired men (Who I believe represent the [elite through the] Deep State) and my finger was on, “Shalt thou reign?” in Jeremiah 22:15. Jer 22:12-17 but in the place whither they have led him captive, there shall he die, and he shall see this land no more. 13 Woe unto him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness, and his chambers by injustice; that useth his neighbor's service without wages, and giveth him not his hire; 14 that saith, I will build me a wide house and spacious chambers, and cutteth him out windows; and it is ceiled with cedar, and painted with vermilion. 15 Shalt thou reign, (Those who were sure they would reign by collecting enormous profits from this revaluation have lost it. The people's monopoly money is now worth much more, for the till has the elites' and the wicked's money in it and it will be divided as God sees fit.) because thou strivest to excel in cedar? Did not thy father eat and drink, and do justice and righteousness? then it was well with him. 16 He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well. Was not this to know me? saith Jehovah. 17 But thine eyes and thy heart are not but for thy covetousness, and for shedding innocent blood, and for oppression, and for violence, to do it. I then asked for a word for the men giving me all their money, and my finger was on Matthew 6:29. In context Mat 6:28-34 And why are ye anxious concerning raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: 29 yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 But if God doth so clothe the grass of the field, which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? (When I pasted this text in this article, somehow, I accidentally turned the background red, but this underlined part was white. I know of no way this could naturally happen, and my accident was not an accident. So believe God to supply for you in the coming wilderness as He did for Israel.) 31 Be not therefore anxious, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? 32 For after all these things do the Gentiles seek; for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. 33 But seek ye first his kingdom, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. 34 Be not therefore anxious for the morrow: for the morrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. Also, this verse came to mind. Pro 13:22 A good man leaveth an inheritance to his children's children; And the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the righteous. Dream 2: I went back to sleep, and again I was sitting in front of the Monopoly board, alone this time. I was looking at a small stack of money between the game board and me. In the dream, I knew that it was $42. And I was thinking, “It will not be enough; I'm going to fall short.” (Everyone wanted the revaluation to happen too early. If it had, it would have been swallowed up by the criminals.) Then Donald Trump merged with David and came in through the door near the dining room that led out to the garage. (When I say they were merged, it was like their two images flickered back and forth between Donald Trump in a dark suit, white shirt, and red tie, and David in a white Polo shirt and light blue jeans.) (This merger has been seen for a while, especially in Eve's dreams. This represents the David Man-child reformers working to bring about the Kingdom on a Christian level, while Trump-Cyrus works to bring about the Kingdom on a National level. And the Davids will help the Trump.) I heard their voices in unison say, “42....43,44,45” as they added three more dollars to the 42 that I had. (Bill Clinton was the 42nd president, Bush Jr. the 43rd, Obama the 44th, and Trump the 45th. (And currently the 47th. Notice the criminals did not further the process of GCR during their terms because then Christians would benefit having been told by the Lord to invest in this. As a ministry, we have not, but others have for us. Obama/Hillary/Biden's job was to finish off the Christians with their invasion and cheating on the vote. Then came God's 45th and 47th president to prepare us with the tribulation provision. There is a lot of revelation concerning 45, which represents preservation. The Isaiah 45 Trump-Cyrus/Man-child parallel to rebuild the Kingdom, etc.) Isa 44:28-45:3,13 That saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure, even saying of Jerusalem, She shall be built; and of the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid. 45:1 Thus saith Jehovah to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him, and I will loose the loins of kings; to open the doors before him, and the gates shall not be shut: 2 I will go before thee, and make the rough places smooth; I will break in pieces the doors of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron; 3 and I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that it is I, Jehovah, who call thee by thy name, even the God of Israel. … 13 I have raised him up in righteousness, and I will make straight all his ways: he shall build my city, and he shall let my exiles go free, not for price nor reward, saith Jehovah of hosts. I was relieved because this was exactly the amount I needed. The 3 dollars they laid down were much larger than normal, like the size of business envelopes. (I believe that Trump has “bought us” more years, represented by the 3 large dollar bills, before the tribulation begins). Then I woke up. I asked Father for a word concerning the three more dollars and my finger was on “heir of righteousness” in the concordance under Heb 11:7 By faith Noah, being warned of God concerning things not seen as yet, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; through which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith. (Arks are expensive and laborious, as we learned when many went to see this huge replica – The Ark Encounter in Kentucky.) Mat 24:37-39 And as were the days of Noah, so shall be the coming of the Son of man. 38 For as in those days which were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, 39 and they knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall be the coming of the Son of man. What 42 dollars could also represent...   Meaning of Number 42 in the Bible Forty-two is a number with a direct connection to the coming Antichrist kingdom. His evil efforts will last 42 months in the end time, and thus forty-two is firmly associated with him. (This 42nd Presidency brought an end to 3 generations of antichrist leadership, but we are being preserved by the 45th and 47th. In God's view, Trump skipped a year because He is needed now.) On Oct 14, 2018, Melissa Pollock wrote: David, I thought I would look online and see if there is anything about Pres. Trump having dreams and needing interpretation. I looked for a little, but not really hard. The Lord got my attention when I was online, that Trump is the 45th President. I was thinking about how the Lord is using him as a type of Cyrus. Then all of a sudden the Lord brought to mind that Isaiah 45 is the first chapter, which talks about Cyrus. So I went and looked. Actually, verse 28, the last verse of chapter 44, is the first place Isaiah starts talking about Cyrus. Chapter 45 is the only chapter in Isaiah that starts at the beginning, talking about Cyrus. Then I thought about the fact that 45 means preservation. The Lord also got my attention with how I wrote all this info down. PRES. is short for President, and PREServation both begin with the same letters! The Lord is using PRES Trump as a type of Cyrus to PREServe the U.S. and the world by taking down the Deep State. That's so we have a relative time of peace for the sake of bringing His people out of apostasy so they will follow the Man-child into the wilderness, like David has been teaching us. There are only three verses that use the number 45 in the Bible. Gen.18:28 peradventure there shall lack five of the fifty righteous: wilt thou destroy all the city for lack of five? And he said, I will not destroy it, if I find there forty and five. (45 preserved) Joshua 14:10 And now, behold, Jehovah hath kept me alive, as he spake, these forty and five years, from the time that Jehovah spake this word unto Moses, while Israel walked in the wilderness: and now, lo, I am this day fourscore and five years old. (45 preserved) 1 Kings 7:3, In context 1-3, 1 And Solomon was building his own house thirteen years, and he finished all his house. 2 For he built the house of the forest of Lebanon; the length thereof was a hundred cubits, and the breadth thereof fifty cubits, and the height thereof thirty cubits, upon four rows of cedar pillars, with cedar beams upon the pillars. 3 And it was covered with cedar above over the forty and five beams, that were upon the pillars; fifteen in a row. Cedar wood is bug-resistant and used to store things in order to preserve them from being eaten up by bugs. (His house was preserved and supported by 45 beams)   Huge Box of Gold Coins Given to David David Eells - 11/04/2016 I had a vision in the night. I saw myself in a huge warehouse. I had been sent by my Boss to move a large box that I saw in the Spirit to our part of the warehouse. When I got there, I still saw the box in the Spirit, and I saw the industrial-sized forklift that I was to use to pick it up. I would judge the box to be about 8' square and very strong. It was full of dollar-sized gold coins. I looked at the forklift and wondered if it was big enough to pick the box up. I found the manager of the warehouse and told him what I was told to do. He said, “I was told by my boss not even to speak nominally (in name only) of that box”. Then I told him, “Do you want me to go back to my Boss or do you want to speak to yours?” I knew my Boss, Father, was over his boss, Satan. End of vision. (I believe the Lord is saying we are soon to receive access to the money to serve His saints in the refuge.)   UBM, Refuge from the Storm David Eells - 09/21/2007 In a vivid dream, an elderly white-haired man sat at His desk looking at some papers. He was also watching me with an expression of pleasant approval as I lay on a couch next to Him. I also was looking at some papers. It was revealed to me that He was leaving me with a billion dollars, which to me just represented a lot of money. Later I was told it would literally be infinitely more than that, and it would be to take care of His people, house, property, and the Man-child families. There were household servants who looked on. (The elderly white-haired man represents our heavenly Father, Who will provide Unleavened Bread Ministries with everything necessary to care for that portion of His house and property that He has left us to care for. The house represents His holy people, and His property represents those who are under the blood and in the process of becoming holy. I represent UBM, which is a body of saints committed to preparing the elect to walk in the steps of Jesus. The papers we were looking at represent the Biblical, legal contract between the Father and us that guarantees all these things. The servants are the angels who serve His people to bring this to pass. I was lying down in a restful position, signifying that it would not be by the works of UBM, but as we rest from our own works, the grace of God will bring it to pass.) Afterward, I saw myself walking through the house and looking out a front window. I saw that a storm was raging and that the properties outside the boundaries of our property were being devastated. In other words, we were a refuge. Trees were being blown away, and the landscape was becoming desolate. (Looking out the front window is to look into the future, or what is before the house. The raging storm is tribulation to come. The world outside the property will be devastated to prepare a wilderness that will motivate God's people to flee to the Kingdom of God through repentance and faith. This is abiding in Christ, the “Secret Place” of the Most High God. In the Bible, people are likened to trees, so the trees blown away represent people's lives being destroyed who do not abide in the shelter of Christ.) Next, I saw that inside the boundary of the property were all kinds of animals. I knew that the billion dollars was given to shelter and take care of these. (After the dream, I thought how much this seemed like the beasts who fled to Noah's ark for safety from the storm to come. Solomon taught that men are as beasts. Ecc.3:18 I said in my heart, [It is] because of the sons of men, that God may prove them, and that they may see that they themselves are [but as] beasts. 19 For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; and man hath no preeminence above the beasts for all is vanity. I have shared in our teachings that the different peculiarities of these animals represent the different strengths and weaknesses of men. The different species can also be seen as different unclean sects, divisions or denominations.) Peter was being prepared by a trance vision to accept into the Kingdom those men he considered to be unclean beasts. Act.10:11 and he beholdeth the heaven opened, and a certain vessel descending, as it were a great sheet, let down by four corners upon the earth: 12 wherein were all manner of fourfooted beasts and creeping things of the earth and birds of the heaven. 13 And there came a voice to him, Rise, Peter; kill and eat. 14 But Peter said, Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common and unclean. 15 And a voice [came] unto him again the second time, What God hath cleansed, make not thou common. 16 And this was done thrice: and straightway the vessel was received up into heaven. Immediately after this vision, Peter was invited to the house of Cornelius, and he perceived that God had revealed to him that He had cleansed the lost, unclean Gentiles through the sacrifice of Jesus. Act.10:28 and he said unto them, Ye yourselves know how it is an unlawful thing for a man that is a Jew to join himself or come unto one of another nation; and [yet] unto me hath God showed that I should not call any man common or unclean... 34 And Peter opened his mouth and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons: 35 but in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is acceptable to him. At this point, Peter preached the Gospel to all who were in Cornelius' house, and they were saved and filled with the Holy Spirit. Many unclean beast people will be fleeing the judgments on the world and apostate Christianity and coming into the shelter of the Kingdom through our ministry. These were sanctified of their beastly character by the sacrifice of Jesus, and we will have to deal with those peculiarities by faith and the Word. Some of them will ultimately not be saved, for they will not continue in the faith and endure to the end to be delivered of their beastly appetites. Next, I saw, as I looked out of the front window, a rhinoceros charging towards the window. At the last minute, it veered off and went down the left side of the house. I turned and ran to the back of the house and looked out the back window to see lions and a rhino calf peacefully in the backyard together with other animals. I supposed that the rhinoceros was thinking of protecting its own, but there was no threat; they were all at peace. (Notice that the animals are at peace, like they must have been in Peter's sheet and Noah's ark. This symbolizes the one flock with one shepherd that Jesus said would come. Mat.5:9 Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called sons of God. In Isaiah 11:1-5, the Branch is Jesus in the Man-child ministry as in Jer.23:1-6. Then it also speaks of the animals being at peace and protected and led by the man-child. Isa.11:6 And the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them (man-child). 7 And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. 8 And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder's den. 9 They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain (Kingdom of God); for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of Jehovah, as the waters cover the sea. The rest of the chapter speaks of gathering God's people to their spiritual Land of Promise and bringing peace between them while conquering the old man in the land. Chapter 12 speaks of them drinking freely of God's salvation. And chapter 13 is the Day of the Lord and the fall of America as we know it. Here, the shepherds and their flocks are gone, but the wild beasts- especially “goats” (the wicked and apostates) and “wolves” (apostate false leaders) are left to “cry in their castles” (churches). 13:19 And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldeans' (Babylon in religion and politics) pride, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. 20... neither shall shepherds make their flocks to lie down there. 21 But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there (religion); and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures; and ostriches shall dwell there, and wild goats shall dance there. 22 And wolves shall cry in their castles (churches), and jackals in the pleasant palaces: and her time is near to come, and her days shall not be prolonged.) Looking out the front window in this dream represents seeing into the future, and the left side, where the rhinoceros went, represents where the goats walk. Just as it is now, some self-righteous, competitive, ambitious, sectarian, factious, domineering types will seek to separate those of their own kind and their own thinking from the body when in reality they are in the safest place to be. This also may be speaking of a larger future scenario that involves the new world order religion seeking to separate those who may be proven to belong to them from those at peace with God and each other. They will not be ashamed to use the weapon at their disposal to gore those who have been given authority. The rhinoceros first aimed at me and then at those who agreed with me. Some, like Judas, will go to the place ordained for them because of their selfish ambition and because they abuse their freedom in Christ. Gal.5:10 I have confidence to you-ward in the Lord, that ye will be none otherwise minded: but he that troubleth you shall bear his judgment, whosoever he be... 13 For ye, brethren, were called for freedom; only [use] not your freedom for an occasion to the flesh, but through love be servants one to another. 14 For the whole law is fulfilled in one word, [even] in this: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. 15 But if ye bite and devour one another (as the wild beasts normally do), take heed that ye be not consumed one of another (as the wild beasts do). 16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.... 19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are [these]: fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousies, wraths, factions, divisions, parties, 21 envyings, drunkenness, revellings, and such like; of which I forewarn you, even as I did forewarn you, that they who practice such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.   Refuge Presence of God B. R. - 05/01/2009 (David's notes in red) I was reading in Second Samuel, and this scripture impressed me: 2Sa.6:14 And David danced before Jehovah with all his might; and David was girded with a linen ephod. 15 So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of Jehovah with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet. (When the David Man-child ministries are anointed as the new leadership of God's people, the presence of God will be in their midst for the first time since the Saul ministries began. 1 Chr.12:38 All these being men of war, that could order the battle array, came with a perfect heart to Hebron, to make David king over all Israel: and all the rest also of Israel were of one heart to make David king... 13:2 And David said unto all the assembly of Israel, If it seem good unto you, and if it be of Jehovah our God, let us send abroad everywhere unto our brethren that are left in all the land of Israel, with whom the priests and Levites are in their cities that have suburbs, that they may gather themselves unto us; 3 and let us bring again the ark of our God to us: for we sought not unto it in the days of Saul.) Then, last night, I had a refuge dream, and only the following came to mind: We were in a covered pavilion with picnic tables. David (representing the David/Man-child ministries to come) and I had arrived, and there was a group of people expecting us. A middle-aged woman came up to us and told us that the pretzels in the stacked, white boxes of different sizes on the picnic tables were for us to eat. (This represents partaking of the joyous rewards of the unleavened bread of the Word, the crucified life of the heart, and prayer. All this in a clean, white garment representing faith and the works of the Spirit. Which I will share below.) David was walking behind me, singing in tongues. He was in a very joyous mood. (Bringing the anointed presence of God.)   What Do Pretzels Represent? The origins of the pretzel go back to a frugal monastery in the mountains between Southern France and Northern Italy. In 610 AD, the monks created the first soft pretzels. They didn't want to waste the dough leftover from making unleavened communion bread. (Partaking of the pure Word.) Christians, in those days, prayed with their arms crossed over their chest (the crucified life of the heart) with each hand on the opposite shoulder. The monks realized that the dough could be twisted into a similar shape. The treats were given to village children as a reward to children for memorizing their prayers. The monks called their treats “pretiola”, a Latin word that means “little rewards”. (Partaking of the joyous rewards of the unleavened bread of the Word and prayer.)   Provision for the Bride Terri McGinley - 4/19/22 (Deb's notes in green | David's notes in red) I had a dream where I was observing these young men. (Representing the Man-child Body of first fruits reformers.) They were between the ages of 18-23 or so. (Eighteen is the numerical value of the Hebrew word “chai,” which means “life.”... It is a Jewish custom to give monetary gifts in increments of 18, thus symbolically blessing the recipient of the gift with a good, long life. The number 23 in the Bible symbolizes death. The Man-child body of reformers is the first to come to their spiritual death of self so that they can bring salvation, provision, and life through the Gospel of Christ to all of God's elect during their first 3 1/2 years of ministry in the tribulation.) They were camping, and someone there told them of a lady who was in need and asked if they could help out. (Camping represents that the Man-child reformers are in their own personal wilderness.) (The lady in need is the modern-day Church, which has been impoverished by apostasy and division over these last 2,000+ years and is in desperate need of the real Jesus.) One young man said, “Wait, just a minute.” (The young man represents Jesus Who has already given us everything.) He had a stack of birthday cards. (Birthday cards represent invitations to be born into the Kingdom.) He looked through them and found a blank check and a hundred-dollar bill. He took them out of the cards and gave them to the lady in need. (The Man-child will show the woman how to receive the $100 bill representing 100-fold fruit and the blank check representing carte blanche; i.e., whatever is needed; no stipulations or no limits.) (Est 2:13 then in this wise came the maiden unto the king: Whatsoever she desired was given her to go with her out of the house of the women unto the king's house.) He left the check blank. I was really surprised, thinking he'd give maybe five or ten dollars, especially since he didn't seem to have much and was so young. That was the whole dream. (Jesus didn't have much during His earthly life according to the world's standards, but He gave all of His life so that we could have Life. A “blank check” reminds me of Mar.11:24 Therefore I say unto you, All things whatsoever ye pray and ask for, believe that ye received them, and ye shall have them.) AMEN.

Today we continue our verse by verse series through Second Samuel. We've reached a key point in King David's reign. He wants to make God the focal point of the nation, so he arranges for the Ark of the Covenant to be brought back to Israel. Pastor Jeff will have you consider a key question today - is God the center of your life? To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.oneplace.com/donate/621/29?v=20251111

Successful people are all around us, but few actually realize the source of their greatness, and even fewer still understand the purpose of it. In chapter four of Second Samuel, David was about to become the King of Israel. The source of David's greatness was God, and there was also a purpose behind it all. To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.oneplace.com/donate/621/29?v=20251111

We are in a study of Second Samuel with Pastor Jeff Johnson, and in the third chapter we notice how we are not to use relationships to get power. We will meet up with a few characters in this intriguing story - one who compromised to get power and another who fought to keep it. To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.oneplace.com/donate/621/29?v=20251111

Today on Sound Doctrine, pastor Jeff Johnson continues his new series through Second Samuel by looking at chapter two, and a great example of Godly patience. David is facing some serious challenges and the decisions he must make will affect thousands of people. To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.oneplace.com/donate/621/29?v=20251111

Today we return to Jeff's new series through Second Samuel. In chapter two, David does something that sets him apart from many of the leaders who had come before him. He asks the Lord for guidance. To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.oneplace.com/donate/621/29?v=20251111

Elder Drew Howard opened Week 7 of "Ruach to Pneuma" by drawing a careful distinction that builds on last week: being indwelled by the Holy Spirit and being filled with Him are not the same thing. Indwelling, he explained from Ephesians 1:13, is the seal every believer receives at salvation, permanent, unconditional, and positional. Filling, from Ephesians 5:18, is His influence, and it is repeatable, conditional, and experiential, rising and falling with our response to Him. Working through the account of the ark of God in First and Second Samuel, Drew showed both the warning and the way. Israel first treated the ark as a good luck charm, carrying it into battle to force God's hand, and the result was disaster, defeat, the ark captured, and a child named Ichabod, "the glory has departed." His first warning landed there: God is not a genie in a bottle or a Santa Claus, and we must never use Him as a token to get what we want. Then, tracing David's life, Drew drew out five marks of a Spirit-filled life. Live out the calling God has given you, using your gifts for His glory. Inquire of the Lord and seek His will rather than your own. Seek your answers in the Word and live according to it, as David learned when moving the ark carelessly brought death and moving it God's way brought blessing. Sing songs of praise that fill the heart, as David danced before the Lord with all his might. And own it, be unashamed of being filled with the Spirit, even under the contemptuous gaze of David's wife Michal. Drew was honest that being filled can look a little crazy to a watching world, a Bible open on your desk at work, a mission trip instead of a vacation, and that this is exactly the point. He closed with a final warning drawn from Michal: be careful how you judge others who are worshiping in the Spirit.

Today we return to our series in Second Samuel. If you'll recall, David has been on the run for 10 years, and now that Saul has died, what's next? We say good-bye to Saul, and we now enter into David's reign as King. And his heart comes shining through here in chapter one. We'll see that he grieved deeply for Saul and Jonathan, who are no longer with him. Let's see how the Lord can minister to us in our hour of grief. To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.oneplace.com/donate/621/29?v=20251111

You've picked a good day to join us as we embark on a new verse by verse journey through Second Samuel, here on Sound Doctrine. And the book begins with the death of Israel's first King, Saul! Who killed Saul? Pastor Jeff Johnson believes there are two possibilities. Whatever conclusion you reach, pastor Jeff will draw out some helpful lessons, like how to deal effectively with our flesh. To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.oneplace.com/donate/621/29?v=20251111

Teacher: Rob Zimmermann Download Sermon Notes  Watch Episode Give Online: http://westgatechapel.org/give Chapters (00:02:18) - Praise for the Sovereign God(00:06:28) - Mother's Day at Westgate(00:07:37) - Wonders of Westgate Chapel Welcome!(00:09:44) - How to Invite Everyone to VBS(00:14:02) - Donating to our Kids Ministry(00:15:44) - A Moment of Remembrance(00:20:07) - The Lord's Supper(00:28:54) - Depend on You(00:37:59) - First Things First(00:39:48) - Psalm 51: Making Jesus Lord of Our Lives(00:44:32) - Paul's Making Jesus the Lord of My Life(00:53:36) - Case Study(00:57:44) - The Perfect Image of Sin(01:05:44) - David's Sin in Second Samuel(01:07:16) - David's Personal Experience in Repentance(01:15:13) - Psalm 51(01:16:37) - Putting Your Faith in Jesus First(01:27:30) - Put Jesus First

Group Guide Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week. 1 Corinthians 1:10-2:5 Isaac Hill Download TranscriptWell, good morning again. If you have been with us on Sunday mornings, you'll know that we have been working our way through the book of Second Samuel. But we are actually going to take a pause this morning. It just so happened to be that in terms of calendaring, if we had stayed in 2 Samuel today, it would have been a rather emotionally heavy and difficult topic to discuss. And on Mother's Day, we figured that maybe wasn't the best approach. And so with Chet and Spencer out of town, they asked if I would preach. And they said the choice is yours. You get to choose, which is great for me. So for those that maybe don't know, we have been in the process of sending and planting a church out in Lexington. And as somebody who is committed to going and to serving in a leadership capacity, we over there, that has kind of been where my mental space and where my heart has been drawn as of late. And so what I wanted to do is share some encouragement with you that I have been receiving from the opening chapters of First Corinthians. And so that's where we're going to be this morning. As we're gearing up as a church to enter into this time, in this season of transition, there's going to be a lot of change. And change can kind of be frightening and scary. If you don't like change, I'm sorry, but it's coming to us. And whether or not you're going or whether or not you are staying, things will look different and there'll be a lot of things that have to be done and there'll be a lot of little tasks and a lot of little stuff that we're trying to work at. There's a way that in the middle of all of that, we could start to forget what is essential and we could start to focus too much of our attention on what is non essential. In the letter of First Corinthians, right out of the gate, Paul is helping point out to this church some ways that they specifically have been getting caught up in non essentials. And he wants to remind them of what is the main thing. And so that's what I want to remind us of this morning. What is the main thing. So let me pray and then we'll dive in.Father, we, we thank youk for your word, the way that it instructs us. And would you'd be instructing us this morning, would you'd word not return void in Jesus name. Amen.If you will open up your Bibles and turn To First Corinthians, Chapter one. I actually don't have any on the slides behind me. There won't be any text there. We're trying out some new stuff. Instead of having the text on the screen, you can open up a physical Bible. We are blessed to live in a time and a space where we have physical Bibles available to us. So if you didn't bring yours with you, you can grab one that is provided in the seat racks in front of you. If you're using one of those Bibles, it's going to be on page 1102. And as you're turning there, since we're jumping right into the middle of a book, I figure I'd give a little bit of context to help position us. First Corinthians is a letter written by the apostle Paul to the church in Corinth. And what we read in Acts 18 is that Paul actually was at the forefront of spreading the gospel and helping start the church in Corinth. And so this letter is written about three to five years after his time there. Now, a little bit of brief context on the city itself. Corinth was a port city, which really, the only reason that's important to know is that port cities often grow and become prosperous because there's a lot of trade that's going through there. If you can kind of visualize the setting of what this church was started in, in this city, if you think maybe like a Charleston or a Savannah or maybe Virginia beach area, that's kind of the space where the church is in. That's the culture that is around them. Paul, he's writing to them, and at the beginning, he's trying to remind them of what he preached to them when he first came. We're going to pick up in chapter one, verse ten and the first six verses that we read, we're kind of. We're going to go kind of quickly through them because they're also still just helping build some context for us. So verse 10.> I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment.> For it has been reported to me by Chloe's people that there is quarreling among you, my brothers.> What I mean is that each one of you says, "I follow Paul," or "I follow Apollos," or "I follow Cephas," or "I follow Christ."> Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?> I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius,> lest anyone should say that you were baptized in my name.> (I did baptize also the household of Stephanas. Beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized anyone else.)> For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.Paul, he's concerned about some quarreling, about some bickering that's coming up in the church. He's received a report about this Chloe, we don't know her. We don't know what it means to be Chloe's people, but we assume it means something to the people at Corinth. This is the report that is given to Paul about the issue, the quarreling that's showing up.What I mean is that each one of you says, I follow Paul, or I follow Apollos, which he was a teacher that came after Paul in Corinth, or, I follow Cephas, that would be the apostle Peter, or I follow Christ. The picture that we get here is that it appears that the people in the church have almost kind of like been forming factions where they're grabbing on to kind of important figureheads in the church at the time, and they're claiming them as some sort of way for, like, status and position. You're like, paul, Paul is my guy. And as if that's supposed to communicate something about my importance, my intellect, my ability to know what's going on. It's a very interesting one as well. The very last one where he says, I follow Christ. Because you might think, well, that's the good crowd. They're the ones figuring it out. You're supposed to follow Christ. But it doesn't seem that he's really saying that because he's batched them in with the rest of this group. And it seems that there's a way in which the people have even started to say, I follow Christ as some kind of way to try to jockey for position and kind of power and strength in the church. And so that's the situation that Paul is finding himself riding into here, is that the people are beginning to miss the main point because they're needing in their own cells to try to hold on to some kind of strength.> For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.> For it is written, "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart."> Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?> For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe.> For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom,> but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles,> but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.> For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.When you're reading Scripture, paying attention to repetition is a good hint at what's being pointed, pointed out as important. You have this idea of wisdom and its opposite folly coming up over and over again in a very short time. The image that we're getting here is that we have the wisdom of the world and we have it stacked up against God. That's what Paul is beginning to do here, building these ideas.> For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth.> But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong;> God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are,> so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.> And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption,> so that, as it is written, "Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord."If you can use your imaginations, with Paul here, you would consider a spectrum where on one end you had wisdom and power, wisdom and strength, and then on the other side of the spectrum, you had weakness and foolishness. Paul says, wherever you put the message of the cross, he's been talking about it as weakness and foolishness. He said, wherever you put it, it's wiser and it's stronger than you and I. Consider for a moment what is the message of Christ crucified? It begins with Jesus coming to us, condescending to us, taking on flesh, like you and I. I would assume that all of us here in the room know the limitations of your body. You know the weakness that we are. And that's all just before we even get close to what is the cross, and you start to approach it, and you have the night before Jesus is betrayed, he's stabbed in the back by a friend, and then he's turned over to be arrested. When he's arrested, all of his close friends now leave him and he's left on his own. Then he goes. The crowds who once just a couple days earlier were shouting his name are now scorning him. They're saying, release for us a guy who we know, he's rotten, he's a criminal, but we'd rather have him than this Jesus guy. Then he's handed over to random soldiers who beat him within an inch of his life. Then he's taken out to the entrance of the city and he's hung on a tree next to common thieves. This is the message of Christ crucified. Such weakness, such foolishness. How weak and foolish we must be. But deep in this truth is precisely where we find the wisdom and where we find the power.> And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom.> For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.> And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling.> My speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,> so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.This is the same as us here, unless some of you have a kingly line that I didn't know about. God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise. God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong. God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not to bring to nothing, things that are so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. This is the wisdom. That it would be such a way where you and I couldn't boast in ourselves. We're torn. We have two sets of desires. On one hand, we really want to boast in ourselves. We really want to be able to tell you, I've got it figured out. But on the other hand, deep within you, your soul aches for what is true in Jesus, the message of this cross. Because do you really want to boast in yourself? Do you know what kind of weight that is that you have to carry to boast in yourself? You don't have to. You get to boast in Christ. You get to boast in his weakness, in his foolishness at the cross. And the weight can be lifted because it's about him, it's not about us.And because of him, you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that as it is written, let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.Now, it's not been until recently, in the last several months of sitting in and meditating on this passage, that I've come to understand what I think Paul is actually getting it here when he says the phrase demonstration of spirit and of power. Every time I've read this passage, I've just assumed that as a great apostle, at the birth of the church, he's talking about some kind of sign, some kind of miraculous work. I mean, it happens all over the book of Acts as the church is getting going. And it even happens now and today that you can go to something like Acts 3. You can see Peter and John, they heal a lame man. Or maybe in Acts 9, where Peter raises Tabitha from the dead. Or Paul himself, he does miraculous work. He exercises a demonic spirit out of a man, and then he's thrown in prison for it. And then there's this miraculous work of him being broken out of jail. That's in Acts 16. And so I've always just assumed that, well, this is what he means here. And then that's always created a disconnect between me and Paul because that's not really what my lived experience is. I wrote it off and just continued on. But if you go and read Acts 18, which gives the account of his time in Corinth, not one time is there an instance of a mention of some miraculous work. There's not some big sign. If we just stayed inside of 1 Corinthians, he said that Jews demand signs. Why would he go and flip what he was saying? He just said, I decided to only know Christ and him crucified. Why would he turn around and start talking about something different? This is what I've come to understand. Paul hasn't changed the subject at all. He's still saying the same thing he's been saying the whole time, that the power of God, the demonstration of the Spirit, is Christ crucified at work in you. That's power, us coming to life in him. Paul says in verse five why he wanted to stay out of the way of the message so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. Paul didn't want to come and try to sound intelligent and eloquent. He simply wanted to share the message of Christ crucified because he had tasted the power of God in his life. He knew he didn't want people saying, I follow Paul. He wanted people to say, how great is God, that his power would be at work within me to bring me new life. I boast in him and him alone. That's what he wants.Now, I want to share some encouragement for us as a church, specifically as it relates to the season that we're in, as we're about to send a church, and some of us are about to go and begin a new work out in Lexington. One of the reasons that we're doing this work, aside from the fact that we think God has said, go, so we're going to go, but it's because we want to create more seats at the table. We use that language all the time when our groups multiply. What we're trying to accomplish is create more seats at the table. We want to see others welcomed in and joined in to what we are doing. Very specifically, we want to see those who do not know the hope of Christ join us at the table. The reality is those people come to join us because we, as his people, are faithful to share the message. Just like Paul. The church in Corinth is the church at Corinth because Paul went and he declared the message.The specific encouragement is that Paul says he was in weakness and in fear and in trembling. If I had to guess, when we talk about the idea of evangelism or sharing the message that for all those believers in the room here now, myself included, if you have ever been at that precipice of sharing the message of Christ crucified, you've been afraid. You, like Paul, have trembled. As I've reflected on my own life, I've thought, why is it. Why is it that we can stand here in this room and say, oh, the cross of Jesus Christ, it's the reason that I am alive. And then I'm there in that moment where a friend, a neighbor, who doesn't know Christ, and there's a part of me that wants to. It's terrifying. I think the reason why is exactly what Paul has been saying here in First Corinthians, that the message of the cross is a stumbling block and it's foolishness. If I'm going to share the message of Christ, it's not about pointing to me and how great I am. If I do that, then I've emptied the cross of its power. When you're in that moment, what you're afraid of is exactly what Paul has come to experience. There are some people, oh, they get tripped up. That's pretty tense, awkward conversation. When you're in that moment, somebody gets tripped up like that and we don't want to be there. Or maybe you just get written off as a silly, foolish person. You're one of those weird Christians. The encouragement is that what Paul offers to us is not that we have to go and hone our skill into perfection, to be able to say it just right, to make it work, that we can be just like Paul. You can be weak, you can be afraid, you can tremble. Because it might be getting tense when I talk about this. But the message is not just foolishness and not just weakness, but for those who are called, those who the Lord is working in their heart. This message is power. Christ crucified is power and wisdom for new life. Some of us in the room here, you're already in the position. You already have the relationship with a neighbor or a co worker or a friend. You've been in Paul's spot, you know exactly, you've heard them talk about their life and you have in your head thought, if you only knew the gospel of Jesus. But you stopped at fear and trembling. My encouragement to you is take the next step of faith and share the message of Christ crucified. Your fears might be realized, but this message that while I was an enemy in my disobedience in love, Christ came to go to the cross to absolve the guilt of my rebellion and to give to me the right standing with the Father. That's a message that has power and wisdom to bring about new life. And that is worth it. It's worth it to share. That's what Paul has found to be true. May we find it to be true as well as a church. Whether you are somebody who is staying and going, those of us who are going, or whether you're packing it up and you're going. May we share this message. May we share in fear and in weakness and in trembling. And may we not use eloquent words of wisdom so that the cross would be empty. But may we simply share.Father, we thank you for the cross of Jesus that though it is weakness, though it is foolishness, it is power and it is wisdom. We have felt it because our eyes have been opened and we have been made alive in you. Father, you know us and where we are at. You know the fear and the trembling we that we feel and we face as we consider the notion of sharing this weak, foolish message with those around us. Would you'd empower us in the middle of that weakness and fear to simply say, christ crucified, we love you, praise you. Amen.I'm going to transition into a time of taking the Lord's Supper. Matt's going to come up and prepare to sing for us. In a moment when we have a moment of reflection, I want you to consider, take a moment to consider the cross of Christ. Specifically. Think about the power and the wisdom that it has been for you. Remember the work that the Lord has done in your life. And then when you're up and you're at the table, look around, look around this table and see your brothers and sisters. Remember, the power of the cross has been at work in them too. What joy. And then for a moment, just consider that there are people in this city that the Lord right now is working in their heart and in their life. And when they hear the message of Christ crucified out of our mouths, they will join us at the table and the cross will become power and wisdom.> For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread,> and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me."> In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me."> For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.When you're ready, come to the table and proclaim the Lord's death. Need gluten free bread? It'll be in the back corner as well in the balcony.

Group Guide Group Guide Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week. TranscriptAll right, so I said earlier, my name is Spencer. I'm one of the pastors here. We're gonna be in second Samuel chapter 12 today and want to announce just a little bit of a change in one of the ways we're doing things. So if you look in and around you, there are hardback black ASV Bibles. So we're making a little bit of a shift here. So those are going to be what we use for the primary reading of the text that we're walking through. So we've had in the past, we've had text on the screen, we'll still have some of that. But we wanted to move a little bit more towards what we kind of used to do, which is to really read out of a physical Bible. So we've actually made the investment. We bought some nicer kind of hardback Bibles to use in during worship. So if you go to page 300, that's where it will be. We would invite you A couple things. We invite you to, if you have a Bible that you regularly use to actually bring that on Sundays that we use the esv. If you have a different version, that's fine. We're blessed in the English language to have so many wonderful translations. People who get in just knife wars over translations, it just drives me nuts sometimes some are not great. The majority are quite good. Then it's very possible that you have a very good one. So if you have one, bring it and bring that regularly. Write in the margins of the Bible, take notes during the sermons, like really engage there. If you don't ever have one, if you don't actually. Let me say this, if you don't have a Bible at home, a physical copy, please take that one. That is our gift to you. We want you to have a Bible that you can read at home. But if you didn't forget to bring your Bible on a Sunday, pick one of those up, engage with it. The text, the main part of the text will not be on the screen. Or we would like to discourage being on our phones. That is something that we're actually making a shift towards. I'm not going to like stare at you in the middle of the sermon and just start pointing. Not going to do that. But one of the things we've realized is, is that when we are on our phones and we read the Bible from the phone, sometimes we get distracted. I felt this all of a sudden, a text message comes through, an email comes through, and we want to try to minimize that distraction as much as possible. So you Know, again, I'm not going to be angry from the pulpit if you're on your phone, but we would like to discourage that as much as possible and actually be in the text. So going forward, we'll kind of make this announcement a few different times, but that's the shift we're going to make. And the hope will be, is as we're reading a physical Bible, it's going to come to life in some new and better ways. It's a little more active than kind of passively looking up at the screen. So we're going to be in Second Samuel, verses 1 through 13, which is on page 300 in those Bibles. And we'll get to that text in a moment.There are times where. Where I am, where I've sinned, and I'm being confronted in my sin. Now, most of the time that happens with my wife, because I don't know if you know this. If you're married, the person you sin against the most is. Is your spouse. Vice versa. You know why? Because you're living in close proximity with your spouse and she's a sinner and you're a sinner, and this is what happens. So you should expect sin to happen in marriage, which should result in conflict resolution, all the things that we do and we encourage. But what happens sometimes is that when my wife confronts me in my sin, there's such a clear crossroads. Like, there's just two paths. And the first path is Christ exalting, humble consideration of her words, of myself and my own sin. And then, like, time to really reflect and think and consider. That's path one. Then there's the second path, which is I'm not going down without a fight. I'm going to argue my way through this. First off, I reject the premise of your argument. Second, do we need to get to your stuff? Like, I mean, all the terrible ways, And I'll be honest, this way is pretty appealing and it's pretty easy at first. The other way is quite difficult at first to actually do the work of humility and to consider your own sin and be open to confrontation and to like. Like, that's hard on the front end. Way easier in the back end over here. Way easy in the front end because I got to do what my flesh desires, which is not consider my own faults, not consider my own sin. I get to do what I like to do, which is talk. So let's go for it. But the back end is way worse. And there are just times where I see the crossroads in front of Me. And it's like, oof. The desires of the flesh and the spirit at work in ways where, you know, sometimes by God's grace, I choose what is good, and sometimes I choose what is evil, and it results in good. But I think I'm going to guess I'm not alone in this, that many of us feel that, that with spouses and friends and co workers and family members and et cetera, you feel that you're at the crossroads when someone does the work of confronting you. And that's where we see David today. David is about to be confronted in his sin, and we're going to see what comes out of that and how we should think about that as Christians.So let me pray for us, and then we'll walk through this together. Lord, we thank you that you are patient with us in our sin and that you have incredible hope held out to us. God, I pray that that would be clearly seen in a way that changes the very way that we operate and live our lives. This morning we ask this in Jesus name, Amen.Okay, so summary summarizing. Last week, Chet walked us through what is the lowest point of David's reign. The David who's supposed to be on the battlefield leading his people as their king. He's back home. And then temptation comes. He's out. And then he sees Bathsheba, the wife of one of his soldiers, and he inquires of who this is. And then he takes her. And then, attempting to deal with the consequences of his sin, deceives, lies, plots, and then ultimately sends Uriah to the front lines to be killed by the Ammonites, which he is. So David, committing adultery, deception, murder, comes out looking like the good guy. I'll take Bathsheba, she'll be my wife. And he thinks that he's moving forward and his tracks are covered. But God sees everything. The eyes of the Lord see everything. And he sends Nathan, one of his prophets, to confront David in his sin.> And the LORD sent Nathan to David.> He came to him and said to him, “There were two men in a city, the one rich and the other poor.> The rich man had very many flocks and herds,> but the poor man had nothing but one little ewe lamb, which he had bought.> And he brought it up, and it grew up with him and with his children. It used to eat of his morsel and drink from his cup and lie in his bosom, and it was like a daughter to him.> Now there came a traveler to the rich man, and he was unwilling to take one of his own flock or herd to prepare for the guest who had come to him,> but he took the poor man's lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him. (2 Samuel 12:1–6 ESV)So Nathan is a prophet. And this is what God does to his kings. We saw this with Samuel and Saul. We're seeing it here with Nathan and David. You keep reading. You're seeing this with Elijah and Ahab. This is what God does. He sends his prophets to correct the people and especially the kings, in their sin. So Lord sent to Nathan to David, and what he's about to tell David is a parable. But David doesn't know it's a parable. David hears this as an actual thing that has Happened.Okay, let's consider the details of this parable. This is the classic evil rich man versus lowly poor man story. This rich man has an abundance. He has more lambs than he can count. He has flocks upon flocks upon flocks, herds upon herds upon herds. He has an abundance. But then there's the poor man. The poor man doesn't have any. And eventually he gets enough money just to have one little ewe lamb, and that's it. Seemingly all he can ever afford. And then you get into the relationship of that this poor man has with his lamb, and it's like the family pet. I mean, you consider the details, that he raises this lamb, that this lamb grew up with his children. We have a family dog. Her name is Piper, and she is the same age as my middle child, my son. And there are pictures. I can go through a photo show, just the puppy and my son growing up together. That's our family dog, and we love our dog. And that's what this is. This is the family lamb. They love this lamb. This lamb comes to the table and they feed her morsels from the table. Yes, you can have some of this. That lamb drinks out of his own cup, which is kind of gross, just being honest. But some of you let your dog lick your face. So same. They just have this. You can see him just give him some of the cup and then scooping up the lamb and just running it just in circles. Montage. Just, just absolutely. Just this brushing the wool. His sweet little ewe lamb says he treated her like a daughter. You. So once you're attached to the lamb narrative, it shifts back to the rich man. And the rich man has a guest coming to town, and he wants to prepare lamb chops for his guest. You could see him scanning the fields and thinking Thoughtlessly about which one he's going to have one of his people, one of his servants grab. And who. Who. Who's going to. And then he sees the poor man's lamb and the. And he says, oh, no, I'll have that one. And it feels like a. Like a. Like a movie, as you like. You just imagine him sending his goons to, like, just go in and just forcibly take the lamb. And the children are crying, and the man can't do anything because he's the lowly poor man. This is the rich man in town. He has all the power with the sheriff and has all the power with. And he's got all the money. He can't do anything. Or maybe he comes in the middle of the night and his goons come in and sweep and take the lamb. And then all of a sudden, the next day, they're looking, calling for her, wondering where she is. And then all of a sudden, they hear that she's been slaughtered and cooked and served at the table of the rich man. And when you hear the details of the story, you want Liam Neeson, with his particular set of skills, to team up with John Wick and just absolutely destroy this man. And if you feel that kind of angry at the story, I want you to imagine how David felt. Because David was a shepherd. He. He knows what it's like to love the flock, to take care of these lamps. And he is furious again, he doesn't know it's a story. He's furious at this.> Then David's anger was greatly kindled against the man, and he said to Nathan, “As the LORD lives, the man who has done this deserves to die,> and he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity.” (2 Samuel 12:5 ESV)David is furious. And as a man of great passion, he responds to Nathan. He invokes the name of the Lord, and he says, this man deserves to die for what he has done. We are going to make this right. He's going to pay back fourfold what he did. Because this man was cruel. He had no pity. He was a savage. He was brutal. He was an evil man of wealth and power. He deserves judgment. And what's wild is that David can't see it. He can't see it. He so clearly can see this man's sin, but he can't see his own sin. And if you're honest, we've been there. You've been there, where it's so easy to see the sin of others. It's so easy to Point out all the ways that they have failed. So blind to our own reality, the plank so lodged in the eyes we can't see. That's David. He just can't see it. And Nathan just has him exactly where he wants him.> Nathan said to David, “You are the man. Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you out of the hand of Saul.> And I gave you your master's house and your master's wives into your arms and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah. And if this were too little, I would add to you as much more.> Why have you despised the word of the LORD, to do what is evil in his sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and have taken his wife to be your wife and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites.> Now therefore the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.> Thus says the LORD, ‘Behold, I will raise up evil against you out of your own house. And I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this sun.> For you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel and before the sun.'” (2 Samuel 12:7–10 ESV)And now the deeds are coming into the light. Because God sees it all. Every thought, every action, and this life for the next will be exposed. And he exposes it for all to see. He saw when temptation came upon him. When he saw Bathsheba, he saw him take her. He saw him scramble to cover up the Pregnancy. He saw him murder him with the sword of the Ammonites, which pause for a moment. Those of us who sometimes have seared consciences and are like, well, I didn't really do the thing. They did the thing. I didn't really participate. They participated. But you were actively in the background doing things. It's a lesson in morality that if you're the first domino, you're responsible, that you might not brought the sword down, but you are culpable. You, you murdered. He says all of that. He sees it, it's exposed. Then God pronounces judgment, verse 10. Now, therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house because you have despised me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife. Thus says the Lord, behold, I will raise up evil against you out of your own house. I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor. And ye shall lie with your wives in the sight of this Son, for you did it secretly. But I will do this thing before all Israel and before the Son. So the judgment is that strife is about to come upon David's house. It will not be the same, but strife will come upon his house because he despised God, despised his commands. And notice it didn't say he took Bathsheba. You took the wife of Uriah. The sting here of the rich man taking the poor man's lamb because of what you did and the evil that you brought upon this man and the evil you've done against me. Now evil will come out of your own house. And the very things that you have done in the secret and the dark will be done before the sun, out in the open, which we are going to see come to fruition in just a few chapters as this house is torn to pieces. And this is the tragedy that awaits David and the judgment that is given to him.And now is a pivotal moment for David because Nathan just called him out publicly. All of the nation is going to hear about this. And then all of God's people for the next 3,000 years are going to hear about this. What is he going to do? He is the king. And kings in history typically don't respond well to public shaming. They don't respond well to being dressed down in the Bible. Kings typically don't respond well to being called out by prophets. So what is he going to do? Is he going to put them in jail like Jeremiah was put in jail? Is he going to threaten his life like Elijah was threatened? What is he going to do to the prophet who has openly just dressed him down for all to see.> David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.”> And Nathan said to David, “The LORD also has put away your sin; you shall not die.” (2 Samuel 12:13 ESV)And we're going to stop there, and we're going to pick up next week in the second half of that verse and finish off the chapter. At the crossroads of confrontation, David repents. He repents. He acknowledges who this sin was primarily against. I have sinned against the Lord, the God who took me, who chose me, who made me king, who blessed me with blessings I could never earn. I've sinned against him. And then in the same breath, Nathan delivers the message from the Lord. The Lord has put away your sin, and you shall not die. David is given forgiveness, which is massive, y', all, because if you understand the Old Testament law, what David did actually merits death. And the Jewish law, that's the death penalty for what he's done. But he's given forgiveness, and his repentance is genuine. You might could read this and go, okay, does he really. He does. And what we read earlier in Psalm 51 for our liturgy this morning is the. Is the window into his soul, because he wrote Psalm 51, David did, in the midst of. In the aftermath of this sin, really fleshing out repentance in his soul.So what I want to do is I want to go to Psalm 51, which that is on page 554 in that black Bible, and I want us to look at Psalm 51 and to consider really, the elements of repentance. We're not going to get into all of it because we don't have the space to look at every single verse. But I want to just. I want to look at this to consider some of the elements of repentance that are happening here in Psalm 51, on page 544, starting in verse one, David says,> Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. (Psalm 51:1 ESV)You see, there's a. There's a neediness in his repentance. He's in a humble state. He says, have mercy on me. Have mercy. Now, why would he need to have mercy? Because he sinned against a holy and perfect and righteous God who brings wrath towards sin. Have mercy on me according to your steadfast love. He says, according to your abundant mercy. Blot out my transgressions. Remove them. There's this deep desire for repentance, and he's not sorry for what awaits him in the discipline of the Lord. He's sorry because he sinned against God. That's important for us because Spurgeon was quoted as saying this once, that if I hate sin because of the punishment for sin, I've not repented of sin. I merely regret that God is just. So if we. If we just hate sin because we don't like the punishment, which is the wages of sin is death, which is hell. If that's why we hate sin, then it's like we're not understanding whom we've sinned against. Actually, we're just more concerned with the judgment of God. And if he's just or not. David is like, I've sinned against you, God. You. You see the. You see this. This beginning, this restoration in his heart of just understanding this relationship that he's had with God that he's gone wayward from. Have mercy.And then he says in verse two,> Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin! (Psalm 51:2 ESV)Like he just feels the stain of sin on him every now and then. I get to take my kids, we go camping and go camping for a few days, and at the end of it all, we haven't showered, haven't. I've got sweat and bug spray and sunscreen and dirt and grime and marshmallow residue and, like, the works. It just. And I'm like. And when we get in the car to go home, it's just like, I'm really, really looking forward to getting in the shower because I just want to. I just am so ready to just get rid of all of the filth. And David just. He's. He sees it. He finally has eyes to see, and he sees all of the sin and everything that was involved and the plot and the murder and the. And the lust of the heart. He sees all of it, and he's just like, God just washed me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleansed me from my sin. I don't want to be stained like this anymore. God, would you wash me? Would you cleanse me?Verse 3 says,> For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. (Psalm 51:3 ESV)He has this knowledge now. Like, I know my transgressions are before me, and I know you see it. And I've done what's evil in your sight, which if you just think about it for a moment, you just see, this is. This is the human heart on display before God, because very Logically, God is actually not the only person he sinned against. Right, Uriah. He sinned against him grievously. Had him murdered. All the lying and deception. So there's sin that affects the community and all around, but he sees whom he's primarily sinned against and it's the Lord better. Sin first and foremost is against the Lord. He just. He sees it so clearly. I've sinned against you. I've done what's evil in your sight.Go skip down to verse seven.> Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. (Psalm 51:7 ESV)It's like he just. Would you purge me with the hyssop branch? Would you cleanse me so I can be clean? I want to be righteous before you again, God. Go down to verse nine.> Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. (Psalm 51:9 ESV)Just God, I want a clean record. I don't want the iniquities to be counted against me. Hide your face, Lord, from my sins. I don't want it counted against me.In verse 10, he says,> Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. (Psalm 51:10 ESV)So he understands so clearly that his heart has been wayward. And he understands this is really helpful, y'. All. He understands it's not just the actions, it's the inner heart. It's the human. It's the inner being. And he says, I need to be made new. I need you'd to create a new heart within me. I need you to renew the right spirit within me. I need. I need to love you and delight in you and follow you again. I just. I lost my way and I just. I need you to cleanse my inner self so that I can be right with you again.In verse 11, he says,> Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. (Psalm 51:11 ESV)Restore to me the joy of your salvation and uphold me with a willing spirit. The reality is that there are folks who will harden their heart towards their sin and will pursue it and will pursue it and will pursue it. And their heart becomes cold and callous and. And distant. And yes, God hides his lovely face from his people. Sometimes you can't read the rest of the Psalms and not see that. That's why the old Hin says, when darkness see, when darkness hides his lovely face, I rest on his amazing grace. There are times where God hides his unique presence from us. And that's not a place you want to. He says, I don't want to Be away from your presence. I want to remember. I want to restore to me God the joy of your salvation and walking with you. I want to feel your presence and your redemption yet again. God, don't abandon me.And then you skip down to verse 17, says> The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. (Psalm 51:17 ESV)What's so helpful there is that David understands that it's more than just going to the tent of meeting and offering sacrifices, which he would have absolutely done in accordance with the law. It's more than that. Because what God ultimately desires is not the outward action. It's the inward, broken, contrite heart. He wants contrition in our hearts. A broken, sorrowful, remorseful heart that sees I've sinned against you, God, to feel sorrow over sin. And through tears and anguish, with remorse for his adultery and his murder and his deception, he feels all of that against the Lord.Now take a step back from Psalm 51 and you observe his repentance. Summarize some of the elements of what we see. He's desperate. He gives pleas for mercy. He desires to be cleansed. He gives an acknowledgment of who he's primarily sinned against. He has a desire for his presence. He has a plea for his sins to not be counted against him. He has a longing for joy and his salvation again. And he has a confessed reality of contrition and sorrow over his sin. That's what repentance looks like. Which begs the question, does our repentance look like that? Does our repentance and the way that we consider sin mirror this? Because this is what repentance is.Years ago, many of you know this. I was, for years I was bivocational, doing real estate and pastoring. And then I went full time years ago. And every now and then I'm doing some real estate here or there. But years ago I was doing. I was doing a deal and I was. It was me directly with a seller on a property and we were in negotiations and this property needed a lot of work and it got to the end of it all and then went through some inspections and when the H VAC unit, the air conditioning unit came back, I was like, yeah, I don't. I don't know. Like, I just. And there's a lot of trust between this person. This person loved God and I love God. And we're just trying to figure this out. But I just, at the very end of it all, just, I don't know, I think. I think I have to drop the price by 2000 because this. This unit, I think it's about to go. And then she did. And then the years that followed. A couple things came to reality. First, that that H VAC unit actually was a tank. That thing was. It just kept going. Just needed a little maintenance. But I got four solid more years out of that thing. But in evaluating my own heart, and I just realized I was like. That was done from a place of greed and a place of fear. It was done from a place of taking advantage of someone else. And I just. When that finally sunk in, I just. I felt this. I felt like just, lord, what have I done? And rejecting your ways and rejecting your desire and loving money over people. And I just. I felt the overwhelming weight of sin. And I just. I can't. I can't move forward like this. This. This can't be. And I just. I talked to my wife, and we kept thinking and praying through. I talked to the pastors. I kept thinking and praying through it, and I just finally came to the conclusion I just can't stand. I'm not gonna stand before the Lord and this sin. So I. In repentance, I finally. I reached out. I just said, hey, listen, I wrote a letter. I just said, I. I think. I think. I think I did wrong in this. I think you're owed $2,000. I want you to take this check and I want you to cash it. Please, please, please do not send this back. And thankfully, God in his providence in allowing me to be in sin for a period of time, this person actually needed that exact amount at the exact time. But I just. I felt this. That happens, y'. All. We have these. These moments where we're tempted and we're lured and enticed, and the sin grows within us, and we choose wickedness. And this is needed. This. Psalm 51. This contrite, broken heart, this desire to be. Desire to. To be obedient to what God desires for us is so desperately needed in us. And David feels that. He feels a sorrow over his sin, a longing and a hope for God. He. He feels this, and then he's given forgiveness, and his sin is not counted against him. And he spared the judgment of death. And next week we'll see consequences for sin. Because even though sometimes we don't face eternal consequences for sin, there are eternal punishment for sin, there are earthly consequences, and we'll get to that. But for the moment, this week, I wanted to pause and to consider that David's sin is not held against him. He spared the judgment of death.And here's the deal. The good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ is that we are like David, more so. We are like David, more so because we, knowing the gospel, choose to deliberately, intentionally, flagrantly, grievously, sometimes joyfully sin against God, reject his ways in favor of wickedness, in favor of selfishness and self centeredness. And we choose to do this over and over and over again as we break his commands. And what I want us to hear so clearly this morning is that sin is costly, that sin costs. For the wages of sin is death. And God looks at us just as he looked at David. And he looked at David and he said, the Lord has put away your sin. You shall not die. And the reason that's true for us is because the Lord has put away our sin, because Jesus Christ died. Because we get to look to Jesus Christ who dies in the place of sinners, using some of the same language put away in Hebrews 9:26.> For then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. (Hebrews 9:26 ESV)In the back part of that verse it says, but as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself, that if he belonged to Jesus Christ, your sin was put away because of his sacrifice on the cross. Because somebody has to pay the penalty for sin, because we don't sin against a holy and perfect God and reject his ways without a cost. And Jesus Christ lovingly went and paid that penalty for us. And in paying that penalty, he has better things held out for us.> He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. (1 Peter 2:24 ESV)That Jesus Christ takes our sins, he bore them on the tree, the cross, that we might hear this, die to sin and live to righteousness. There are those of us who belong to Jesus Christ who have trusted in the finished work that he did on the cross, that his atonement has covered our sin. He does that so that we might die to sin, not, not living it. That we might see sin be put to death in our lives. I mean, goodness, y', all, we should take the call to repentance seriously, like David did. You should understand the cost of sin. It's the blood of God. You should understand the precious gift that was given for us because of our sin. We should take sin seriously.The puritan Thomas Watson once said that Christ is never loved until sin is loathed. You cannot love Christ if we do not hate sin. Those go hand in hand. There's no way that you can love a God who loved you so much that he gave up his only Son to be crucified for our rebellion against Him. And then us just wink and nod at sin as if it's the. Not a big deal. No, the only logical conclusion to a love that great is a hatred that is that great, too. And that hatred is towards our sin. We must hate sin. We must feel the reality of sin and deal with it seriously, which means considering it, grieving the offense, repenting of it, and running towards Christ.Listen, if we can stare at our sin and have the general posture of our hearts, well, good thing I'm forgiven. Good thing God's a God of grace, right? It's like, whoa, are we. If we can be flippant about what our sin cost and just treat grace like it's a cheap gift, then maybe we've misunderstood grace entirely. And maybe we need to be reoriented with the reality of sin. Listen, we don't have to beat ourselves up after we've repented. I'm not wallowing in the sin of greed from years ago. I find joy in Jesus Christ because what he has done. But we don't skip the work to get there. And some of us skip the work, myself included. We don't do the work of repentance. And we need to. We should be. Listen, we should be terrified at the possibility that we could sin repeatedly in a way that our heart could grow cold and our love could be dim to where we don't sense the presence of God. That's a terrifying place to be.To summarize, Thomas Watson in another place, he says we either must drown our sin in the tears of repentance or our sin will be drowned in the judgment of hell. And that should weigh upon us, and we get to face that reality right here as we have the opportunity to come to the table, invite Christy up to take the Lord's Supper and to play for us in a moment.> “When he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, ‘This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.'” (1 Corinthians 11:24 ESV)> “In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.'” (1 Corinthians 11:25 ESV)On the night that Jesus Christ was betrayed, he took bread and he broke it. And he said, this is my body that was broken for you. And that's the. That's the physical reminder that Jesus gave up his body. And then Jesus took the cup, which is the cup of the new covenant. He said, this is my blood that was shed for you. And it's the reminder of the blood that flowed down from Jesus Christ that covers our sins. And as we consider that until Jesus Christ returns, one of the ways we do this in taking seriously the Lord's Supper, is we consider our sin in repentance. So we're going to sit in silence for a few moments. And if you belong to Jesus Christ, I want you to ask God to reveal, just as he sent Nathan the prophet to reveal his sin, may you ask God to send the Spirit upon our hearts to awaken within us the reality of our own sin. And I want you to sit in that for a moment. And once you've considered the ways in which you've sinned, I'm going to pray, I'm going to invite you to the table, and I want you to come being reminded of the seriousness of sin. I want you to take the Lord's Supper and return. And then I want you to worship him. Enjoy.Now, attached to some of this, maybe. Maybe you've got some work left to do when you leave here. And maybe you need to make a phone call and maybe you need to have a conversation and maybe a group this week, you need to finally walk in the light. Which brothers and sisters, be reminded, undoubtedly, with the size of this room, there, there's some. There are folks in here who are just hiding their sin, who aren't being honest and open, who aren't actually being real about the reality of sin in their life. And I want to make this clear to you. That's a terrible place to be. Don't hide your sin. There's freedom that's found in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Believe that God doesn't want you to walk in darkness. He wants you to walk in light and in power and in victory. And you will not have victory over sin and if it remains in darkness. So part of what needs to happen coming out of this, this week is in your group, is you need to confess your sin. You need to confess it to God first and then one another. But don't choose the path of darkness time and time again. Don't presume upon the kindness of God that's meant to lead us to repentance. But as Christians, we need to come to the table after we've prayed, and we need to walk this out in repentance. If you. For some of you, some of you have never done this. You've never seriously considered your sin. You've never seriously considered the Savior. And the table is not for you, but Jesus Christ is. You have a God that loves you so deeply that he, though he absolutely could, he could have brought judgment down upon you for repeatedly rejecting his will and his desire for you. But he loved you so much that he sent Jesus Christ to die for you, to capture you, to set you apart into eternity. And there's so much joy that's found in that, but it doesn't happen unless you believe. So right now, as we sit in silence, you need to pray and you need to plead for God to blot out your sin, maybe look at Psalm 51 and see Jesus in it and just pray it and ask God to have mercy on you as a sinner and to believe and trust in him. And then come talk to me. Come talk to a person who brought you. But don't come to the table. Come to Jesus Christ. We're going to sit in silence for a few moments, and then I'll close in prayer and invite you to the table.So bow your heads with me, Sam. Heavenly father, We are so thankful for the blood of Jesus Christ. May the wonderful reality of your work compel us to faith. May it move us to beautiful repentance. As we consider your death, your body, and your blood. For those of us that need to do a thing, need to have a conversation, that need to put sin to death, need to throw out something from their house, need to confess their sin. And group this week, they need to walk in freedom. May you help them do it. May you help us do it. And as we come to the table and return to our seats, may we stand and may we sing joyfully that our sins are not counted against us. Amen.

Group Guide Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week. TranscriptCome on, if you will, grab your Bibles and go to Second Samuel, chapter nine. We're going to be reading all of Second Samuel chapter nine together this morning. That's on page 149 in one of the blue Bibles. So if you want to grab one of those from the seat in front of you, would love for you to turn there. It's good to hold a Bible. It's good to hold it open and read together. We have already walked through 2nd Samuel 8 and 10. We're working through the whole book of 2nd Samuel. We took a little break right around Easter, but we've already looked at 8, chapters 8 and chapters 10, because they were dealing with the military victories of David that he was successful, because God was blessing him, defending the nation of Israel and enlarging the territory of Israel as they were attacked and as they defended, they would claim new lands. And so we looked at that. But in the middle of that recounting of the victories of David, there's this story that we're going to look at in chapter nine. And it. In chapter eight, it just finished by saying that David ruled with equity and justice, that he's a good king. And then it's going to give this little story. And in some ways that typifies that, that shows us that. And I think this is one of the beautiful highlights of David's kingship. So we're going to study it together this morning, and through it, we're going to try to set our minds on Christ and how he's a good king and how this story reflects to us some of the beauty of what he is like and how good he is. So chapter nine, verse one. This is David at kind of the height of his power. In some ways. He's been victorious. He's established the kingdom. It's firmly in his hand. And I think this gives us a little glimpse into what he's like because it says this.> And David said, "Is there still anyone left of the house of Saul, that I may show him kindness for Jonathan's sake?" (2 Samuel 9:1, ESV)So if you'll remember, Saul was the first king of Israel and Jonathan was his son. And when David killed Goliath, it says that Jonathan, the souls of Jonathan and David were knit together, and they loved one another and they were friends and cared for one another. And Jonathan helped David escape Saul, his father, when Saul was going to kill him. And they made covenantal promises to each other that David promised that he would be good to him in his kingdom and he'd be good to his family. And David even promised Saul that he would not, if he became king, kill all of Saul's family. And so David, in this moment of power, when he's got some victories under his belt and things have settled, he's got his own city, he's got the. The ark brought to the city, he's got the tabernacle, a tent set up for the ark. I went in the tabernacle. It was in a different place. I was about to misspeak there. David stops and says, can't I find somebody to keep this promise to Jonathan? Is there not anybody where I can show kindness to? And if you would think about kings, if they're constantly at war, the sorts of things that they might be inclined to do when they had a moment of break, when they had a moment down where they might be inclined to make themselves greater, enlarge their palaces, rest. And we get this moment where David, in the moment of stillness, goes, can't I keep this promise? Is there not someone that I can show kindness to for Jonathan's sake? Verse 2. Now, there was a servant of the house of Saul whose name was Ziba. And they called him to David. And the king said to him, are you Zeba? And he said, I am your servant. Which is just a humble way to say yes. Now, if you're Zeba and you're a servant of Saul, and David, who Saul was at war against, has now become king. There was a war between the house of Saul and David for several years because of Saul, and then with Ishma Sheth, and then they come to your house and they say, hey, David wants to see you. I'm going to go ahead and guess that you're not ecstatic at that news, that this was probably kind of stressful for Ziba. If they came to you and just said, hey, the president needs to talk to you, you'd have a lot of questions. Why? What for? And they're like, we got to get there quick. We brought a helicopter. Me. Are you. Check the name again. Why do I need to see the president? And even if you thought there was not a good chance that he was going to execute you on the White House lawn, you'd still be nervous. Well, Ziba is in a situation where he's a part of the house of Saul. It's like, this might not be going to go well. And he's brought before the king. And the king said, is there not still someone of the house of Saul that I may show the kindness of God to him? So David's Intent is to bless someone in the house of Saul, to show the kindness of God to them. And Zeba said to the king, there is still a son of Jonathan. He is crippled in his feet. Now that's an interesting, might even argue, troubling response. He, he doesn't say who in Ziba's mind. The thing that's important is he's crippled in his feet. And if you're someone who deals with a disability, specifically physical ones, that it's possible for you to feel like this is kind of how it works, that that's what's seen and known about you to the point of it swallows your identity either for other people or for yourself, that that's how you're marked, that's how you're labeled. That's how you're understood to the point of even being able to lose yourself in it. Now, we know that this son of Jonathan, his name is Mephibosheth. And we know that because of the introduction that were given to him in chapter four. But it, and it's a tragic introduction. So I want to show that it's a chapter four. You can go one page over in the blue Bible, Chapter four, verse four, says> Jonathan the son of Saul had a son who was lame in his feet. He was five years old when the news about Saul and Jonathan came from Jezreel. His nurse took him up and fled, and as she fled in her haste she fell and the child became lame. His name was Mephibosheth. (2 Samuel 4:4, ESV)So Mephibosheth, when he was five, on the same day, lost his granddad, his dad, his home, and his ability to walk. Now, any one of those things, no matter what your age is, would be extremely difficult to try to process through. But to have them all happen when you're five is an immense, acute amount of suffering. To be displaced, to be a refugee, to lose your father, to lose your grandfather, to lose everything you knew and understood about the world and your place in it, to lose all sense of safety. None of these things are anything that we would want a five year old to have to deal with. And he loses all of it at once and physically carries the reminder in himself from that day forward. In this culture, it was possible that he also carried the stigma of the judgment of God on him, that somehow he had earned this or deserved this or that God had added this to him. And all cultures, including ours, consistently ask, why do these sorts of things Happen? Why do we face this amount of suffering? Why do we have things like this happen? There's an interaction with Jesus and his disciples in John chapter nine where they see a man who's born blind and his disciples ask Jesus who sinned, that this man was born blind, was it him or, or his parents? The reason being, the reasoning being that someone had to sin for him to be cursed this way. Someone had to sin for this to befall him. Obviously it was deserved. That's the assumption. Then the thing they're troubled with is if he had become blind later in life, we wouldn't have the question because he had earned it. But since he was born blind, whose fault is that? Is it his parents fault or did he somehow earn it? But how did he earn it when he was born this way? That's, that's the thought process that they're trying to work out. And we can see that the idea of suffering, and specifically the suffering of someone young, or the suffering of someone born a certain way, or the suffering of, of the kind of the chaos suffering that just seems to happen adds more questions to it. Every once in a while we watch someone and we go, yeah, the reason that happened to you is that you're dumb and you make bad choices. You earned that one. But there are other times where we're going, we don't know how to place this, how does this fit? And that's the question that they're asking. And that honestly is the question that so much of life has to try to answer. Every religion has to try to answer that, every worldview has to try to answer that. So if you believe in karma, you would say that these sort of things, this type of suffering happens because of a previous life. You have a chance to suffer well in this one and then be reincarnated in a, in a better form. If you're Buddhist, you would say that all the material world's an illusion anyway and we're supposed to try to see through it. I was speaking to my neighbor who's Islamic. She said that in our suffering there are specific times where God hears us better in prayers and so we can pray to him and we can ask why. And she said, it's the primary purpose of praying to God in suffering is to ask why. Understanding that the reason you're suffering is God is trying to teach you something. Our Western culture is one of the least prepared to handle suffering in a what's called an imminent frame, which is all that we have is what we can see and taste and touch all we have is science, then there's no purpose in suffering, and the best you can do is get out of it quickly. We at least had at some point previously in generations, we understood that you could grow as a person and develop in character. And we still have a little bit of that, that you could somehow develop as a person so that you could become tough for the world. But now we've mostly shifted into, let's make the world soft for you. And so if anything causes pain or discomfort or suffering, you need to get rid of it, and you need to get rid of it quickly, whatever that means. Get rid of the relationship physically change, however, you can change to the point of surgeries or whatever, but we've got to change the situation so that you don't have to deal with that anymore. And in Christianity, I think we're given better answers and a better hope. We. We know that God's original design did not include any of this. And we know that through sin, suffering has entered the world. We know that it's not all earned. There are some, you know, there's rules in the world, like gravity. But a lot of the suffering that we face is not somehow earned by us or could have been avoided by our good behavior. Jesus, in his response to the disciples when they asked that question, says, neither, but so that the works of God might be displayed in Him. There's another instance In John, chapter 11, where Lazarus dies, and he says that God allowed this to happen for the sake of displaying his glory, that there's something unique that can happen in suffering and through suffering, a unique, peculiar way that God can work to display his goodness, to display his glory, to display his greatness. That only can happen in suffering. There's a unique and peculiar way that he can work in your life only through suffering, that he can't work in other ways or chooses not to. And we know because Jesus joins us in our suffering that there is no suffering that is wasted, that he's not distant from it, but he loves us in it, and that he works redemptively through it, and that we have a hope beyond it. So we don't get all the answers we want. We don't understand why some of these things happen to the degree they happen to you or to this other person, why him, not her? We don't understand those things. We actually don't get that answer. But we do know that Jesus meets us in it, cares for us, sees us, knows us. And we see specifically in this situation with Mephibosheth, a glimpse of how God cares and knows and works. And specifically in this situation with someone who's physically disabled, how he works and relates and ls. So I want to keep reading because I love what happens next. Verse 4. So Zeba just said, he's got a son.> Then the king said to him, "Where is he?" And Ziba said to the king, "Behold, he is in the house of Machir the son of Ammiel, in Lo-debar." (2 Samuel 9:4, ESV)The king sent and had him brought from Lo-debar, from the house of Machir the son of Ammiel.> Then King David sent and had him brought from Lo-debar, from the house of Machir the son of Ammiel. (2 Samuel 9:5, ESV)If you thought Ziba was uncomfortable, if you agreed with me on that assessment, Mephibosheth has to be quite nervous. If they showed up and said, hey, Mephibosheth, King David's looking for you. Why? Because you're a descendant of Saul. Great, good, normal thing to do is to go round up anybody else who could be a rival to your kingdom. You just wipe them out. And he's like, oh, okay. And they say, no, no, no, no. He wants you to come because he's going to be nice to you. Doesn't that make it worse? Feels more suspicious that way. He's got a gift for you. Sure he does. So I should, like, hug my wife and tell her bye? That's what you're saying? This isn't going to go well, but I don't know how trusting he was. It doesn't tell us. David does respond to him and tell him not to be afraid. So I think there's a. There's an indication that there was some anxiety over the situation. But it says this in verse six.> And Mephibosheth the son of Jonathan, son of Saul, came to David and fell on his face and paid homage. And David said, "Mephibosheth." And he answered, "Behold, I am your servant." (2 Samuel 9:6, ESV)And David said to him, do not fear, for I will show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan, and I will restore to you all the land of Saul your grandfather, and you shall eat at my table always.> And David said to him, "Do not fear, for I will show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan, and I will restore to you all the land of Saul your grandfather, and you shall eat at my table always." (2 Samuel 9:7, ESV)He bowed himself and said, what is your servant, that you should show regard for a dead dog such as I? Then the king called Ziba Saul's servant, and said to him,> "Behold, I have given to your master's grandson all that belonged to Saul and to all his house. You and your sons and your servants shall till the land for him, and you shall bring in the produce, that your master's grandson may have bread to eat; but Mephibosheth your master's grandson shall eat at my table." (2 Samuel 9:8–10, ESV)Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants. Then Ziba said to the king, according to all that my lord the king commands his servant, so will your servant do. So Mephibosheth ate at David's table like one of the king's sons.> And Mephibosheth had a young son whose name was Mica, and all who lived in Ziba's house became Mephibosheth's servants. And Mephibosheth lived in Jerusalem, for he ate continually at the king's table. Now he was lame in both his feet. (2 Samuel 9:12–13, ESV)So Mephibosheth lived in Jerusalem, for he ate always at the king's table. Now he was lame in both his feet, which will factor into the story again later as we run back into Mephibosheth. But David has welcomed him, invited him in, and placed him at his table, restored everything he could restore to him. And it's wonderful. And I think sometimes when we read these stories, when you're reading the. The Bible, sometimes you just come across something like this and you're like, okay, what do we do with that? How are we supposed to understand that? And in general, we've been trained to. When you interact with a story, that the story is trying to tell you something about life or about yourself, some sort of moral, some sort of lesson. And then we import that specifically when we come to the Bible, we're going, this is obviously written for some kind of lesson. And. And there are things that are like that. Paul says that in First Corinthians, he says these things were written down for our instruction so that we wouldn't do what they did. So that's an okay thing to do, to read the Scriptures and go, okay, yeah, let's not repeat that. Let's learn from that. Just like if you have an older sibling and they do dumb things, it's good for you to go, yeah, I'm also not going to do that. So we're able to look into this and see this. But that's not the primary way to read the Bible. We're not supposed to just take in lessons, although that's what we've been trained to do. That's. I don't know if you all know this, but every culture, stories help you understand what their ideals are, what they care about, what they value. That's why so many of the stories we tell right now are about throwing off anything that would keep you from being your real, authentic self. That's what a whole lot of our stories are about. Figuring out how to find out the real you and listen to that voice inside and seeing that with your little animal companion or whatever. Like, that's the stuff that we put out there and how your parents are stupid, that's a bonus. Just throw that in there. Don't listen to them. But that's a lot of the stories about freedom, about being alone, about figuring out how to find it all in yourself. We have a lot of those kind of stories. That's not the stories that people used to tell. We actually went and took all of the old fairy tales and turned them into that. But the old fairy tales used to be like, hey, honey, you about to go to sleep? Let me tell you a story. There was a little girl, she's about your age, her mom gave her a chore. She didn't do the chore. And she got eaten night pudding. Those were the stories. There was a mermaid, and her dad told her, don't become a person. And she became one and then suffered forever. Good night. Listen to your dad. Those are the stories. And so we. We understand, we're trying to read sometimes, and we're going, what's the lesson here? But when we come to the text, when we come to the Bible, that's secondary in our understanding. The Bible's primary purpose is to tell us the story of God and his interaction with humans and to display his greatness. This is how Jesus tells us to read the Bible. He looks at the. The Pharisees and he says, you search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have life, but it's they that testify about me. The point of the Scriptures is to point us to Christ first and foremost. So, yes, we can learn lessons and we can say we ought to be like David and we ought to be kind and we ought to be gracious. But if we're looking for ourselves in stories so often, what happens is we end up putting ourselves in the. In the position of the hero. But we're not in the position of the hero. Christ is in the position of the hero. If we're to find ourselves in this story, we're Mephibosheth. We've lost everything and have no ability to get it back. That's us in the scheme of the world. It's all gone. You've been born into an enemy house. You've been born into sin. You've chosen sin and you have no way to come back. You have nothing in yourself that can merit or earn your salvation. You have no hope on your own. But God in Christ has chosen to rescue and to redeem and to welcome each other. Enemies and to bring him into his house. Enemies who could not have accomplished anything on their own. Enemies who. Who by nature and choice have fallen away. Enemies who have rebelled, enemies who do not belong are brought in because he's good. I love that he says, for the sake of Jonathan, because it's for the sake of Christ that we're welcomed in. It's not for our sake. It's not something that you've done. It's not something that you've accomplished. It's not something that you've earned. It's something that has been accomplished by Jesus on our behalf. So if your framework for what you're trying to do, even just being here this morning is, I'm going to get it together. I'm going to fix it. I've messed some things up, but I'm going to get better. I'm going to do what's good. I'm going to do what's right. I'm going to. I'm going to change. And your intent is to do that on your own in such a way that merits you a seat at the king's table. It will never happen. But I've got better news. The king goes out of his way to seek and to save the lost. He goes out of his way to find and to bring in rebels to his house. He goes out of his way to get those who do not belong and in any other system would not be welcome. They're brought in. And I think we say this a lot, so I think you've heard it. I think we've said a lot that you're a sinner, you're broken. We don't usually use this phrase, but we could. You're like Mephibosheth. You're a dead dog. Maybe we should start. I think we say that a lot. I think what can happen sometimes is we can miss. Mephibosheth lays on his face before the king understands his position is absolute worthlessness. He has nothing to bring. And then he gets up and he goes to the table. I don't want you to miss that. Because his position at the table should be one of joy and delight and fellowship and welcome, like a king's son. He shouldn't sit forever and go, oh, my dead. He shouldn't do that. That's not the position he's in. And here's the other thing that I think sometimes happens in our mind. You might go, yes, I understand. I'm saved only by grace. Yes, I understand that Jesus did everything. Yes, yes, yes. And then somehow you work in your mind that you've snuck in the back door. Everybody else is loved and welcome, but somehow you're here on some kind of technicality. It's not how it works. I don't know if y'all can imagine with me the moments when David looked down the table at all of his sons and at Mephibosheth. I don't know if you can imagine the Moments that Mephibosheth moved or spoke or laughed like Jonathan and David's heart leapt. And how much joy and delight there was in David's heart to have him at the table. And as Christ goes to work for you and in you, I want you to know that the King of Ages will sit with us at the table and delight that we're there to the glory of Christ. And every moment that Jesus is at work in you, and he sees a glimpse of him in you, and every moment that he knows that the only way you're welcome is because of the work of the Son of God, that there's joy and delight that he's brought you in, and that his greeting is your name with an exclamation mark. You did not sneak in. You are not unwelcome. He died and shed his precious blood so that you might have a seat at the table, and he did it on purpose for you. John, chapter 10. He says, I, the good shepherd, I know my sheep. I call them by name and I lead them out. If you don't think he knows your name and doesn't delight to welcome you, you have misunderstood the greatness of our God and King, who in Christ welcomes sinners to the praise of his glory and to the light of his goodness. So if you belong to Jesus, I want you to know you don't deserve to be at the table, but I want you to know that you get to be at the table and that he delights to have us there. He's that good. Let's pray.Lord, thank you for saving sinners. And thank you that we have nothing to offer or to merit or to achieve or to accomplish, but that you searched us out. And due to your great kindness and goodness, you've welcomed us. So, Lord, may we with joy in our hearts, with heads held high, with a smile on our face, live like we're your children because Jesus is the firstborn among many brothers and that we've been welcomed because of your greatness, not ours. May we rest in that and hope in that and give you glory in that. And for anyone in this room, Lord, who's been on the run for you from you, or who thinks that they have to fix it before they can come, may they lay their face on the ground and say, lord, I don't deserve this. And then may, through your grace and your goodness and your blood, may you lift them up and give them a seat at the table, because they don't. But you're good enough, kind enough and loving enough to Bring them in. May they surrender to you in Jesus name. Amen.We're going to take a moment together before we sing. Daniel's going to come back up and play for us as we take communion together as a church family. And what we're going to do is remind ourselves that we're invited to the table. And that what invited us, what brought us in, is the blood of Christ and the breaking of his body. That the night he was betrayed, he took bread and he broke it and he gave it to his disciples. He said, this is my body broken for you. And he took the cup and he said, this is the blood of the new covenant poured out for forgiveness of sins. And that in Jesus and in his sacrifice, we have forgiveness and we are welcomed. So take a moment wherever you are, if you need to deal with the Lord on something, if you need to repent of something, if you need to talk about something that's great, throne in between you and him, then repent and do that. And then go to the table as someone who's welcomed to the table through the work of Jesus. If you are not a Christian, then communion is not for you. But the gospel is offered to you that you might trust and follow Him. So when you're ready, we'll take communion. There's gluten free at that table back there.

If you were with us last trims you know that we begin a brand new series in First and Second Samuel. If you've never studied these great books, than I urge you to stay with us for the coming months, because they are filled with great accounts of people like David and Hannah, not to mention the great accounts of the Ark of the Covenant and David's battle with Goliath. We are in chapter one of First Samuel again today. To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.oneplace.com/donate/621/29?v=20251111

Group Guide Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week. TranscriptGood morning. Happy Easter, y'. All. We are In Luke chapter 24 today, verses 13 through 35. Nearly 2000 years ago, almost like. Exactly like 30, 33 AD is when the resurrection happened. Nearly 2000 years ago, some women who were followers of Jesus, they walked to the tomb expecting to carry the spices and to take care of his body and the humbling act of service that they were going to give. But when they arrived at the tomb, they were startled because the stone was rolled away and the tomb was empty.> He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.And then they went back and they told the company, they told the rest of the followers of Jesus. And then some of the 12 disciples came and they verified his body is not there. And then began to unfold this message that went forth throughout the day and for all the days that followed up until this day that Jesus is alive. That for 2000 years that message has spread and spread, that it's so immersed in so many different parts of the world. It's so immersed here in the South. There are churches all around right now that are celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ, that are singing songs that make much of the empty tomb, that are preaching messages about his resurrection. There's a familiarity with this message. So much so that if we did call and response like this, if I said, he is risen, you would say, he is present in me. Y'. All. We don't even do that here. I'm not against it. We just don't. But it's. You're so familiar with it that you just are prompted. You jump right into it. We know this. We know this message. It's so clear here. But what I want us to see this morning as we look at Luke 24, is that it's more than just a message that we are. That we know, that we're familiar with. This is something that has to hit us deeper. And that's what we're going to see this morning. So I'm going to pray for us. Then we're going to walk through this wonderful story from Luke 24. Pray. Heavenly Father, I pray that you might help us be present in a way where your good news that you are alive, that you resurrected, and all that comes with that would come to bear on our hearts. We ask this in Jesus name. Amen.So, same day, the message that his body is gone, and they're trying to figure out what's going on, there's some confusion. And then we get to Luke 24, to a story that's only in this gospel. And we're going to pick it up in verse 13 says that very day, two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. Let's pause there. Two of them. So we're going to learn the name of one of them in a moment. It's Cleopas. Okay. And then the other one we never get the name of. We don't know much about Cleopas. We don't. He's not talked about a whole lot. And then another unnamed person which could have been his wife, could have been just another guy, we don't know. But these two, it's going to be clear from the context as we read followers of Jesus, they've been following Jesus quite some time. They are walking on their way to a village called Emmaus. And they were talking with each other, verse 14, about all these things that had happened. So they begin to discuss all of these things on this seven mile journey to this village called Emmaus. Now, seven miles, that's about a two hour plus walk if you stop to do anything, maybe a little bit longer. But they've got the time and they're talking about all the things that have happened. A Good Friday, that we just celebrated on Friday, the events of the morning on Easter morning.> And he said to them, "What are you discussing with each other while you walk along?"In verse 15, while they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them. So they're talking about all the confusion of where, where is Jesus? Is he actually risen? Is he alive? And all of a sudden Jesus, who's walking from Jerusalem, just starts walking with him. And in that moment you would think they're just going to be so overjoyed. We found him. He's here. He is risen. But it says, but their eyes were kept from recognizing him. So Jesus supernaturally puts a veil over their eyes. He's a stranger to them, some type of Jedi mind trick. Just, just, I am not Jesus, I am a stranger. And he just starts walking with them.> "Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?"Verse 17. And he said to them, what is this conversation that you are holding with each other as you walk? So he's a stranger who just jumps in to the conversation, uninvited, I might add. He just jumps on in. I was at Peacewise with someone from our church about a month ago. And if you're at the main cafe area of Peacewise, all the tables are on top of each other. So I'm sitting at a table talking to someone from our church, and then someone beside us is listening in on the conversation. And then all of a sudden, she's like, I can't help but overhear your conversation. And I've gotten older and maybe a little bit grumpier in some ways. And I'm just like, I bet you can't just. We're having a conversation. You don't have to. You don't have to. But I fought it. I put it down. Because I'm like, that's selfishness. We're called to be everyday missionaries. Yes. Join the conversation. Kind of weave her way into it. That's fine. But Jesus does this. He just kind of weaves his way into the conversation and just says, what are you guys talking about? And it says, and they stood still, looking sad, which could be because they're introverts and don't want them in the conversation. Probably not more. Has to do with the substance of what he's about to say right here. Then one of them named Cleopas answered him.> "What things?"So Cleopas looks at Jesus and says, basically, are you living under a rock, bro? You're coming with us from Jerusalem. This is all that anyone has talked about for a week. That Jesus of Nazareth came down on the Sunday before, and he traveled in the city, and they shouted hosanna. There was this great hope for this great prophet, for this great leader, for this great rabbi. And then they crucified. Where have you been? Do you not know what has happened these days? And y', all. Jesus responds with one of my favorite responses in all of the gospels, says.> "Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was a prophet, mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death and crucified him. But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things happened."I'm just going to be honest. Jesus is playing dumb. He knows good and well what things. And as God, he foreordained them as man. He lived them out and felt all the suffering and the power that came with the cross and the resurrection. He knows good and well with things, but he's being coy and he's playing dumb, which for me is helpful because I play dumb with my kids. Sometimes I will witness something that I see them, you know, fighting. And I've. I've. I've seen it all. And I kind of come up and I'll say, hey, what's going on here? Why is. Why. Why is there crying? What. What happened? Just because I want to hear. What do you have to say? And I hear some version of, well, what happened was, is that I was here, and then she was running, and she ran, like, right into my fist. And it's like, oh, that's a. That's a spin. We're gonna have to talk about that after you get disciplined. Like, that's. He says, what things? He plays dumb. He wants to hear what they have to say. Which I think gives us a partial permission structure to do this if it's for a good thing. So if you're ever wondering, is that sneaky? Kind of. But Jesus does it, and he's perfect, so we'll rock with it. He says, what things? And this is where we see the sadness come out. This is where we see their dashed hopes and the confusion. They give a pretty succinct summary from Palm Sunday to Easter. And they said to him concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was a prophet, mighty indeed, and word, and before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death and crucified him, which is what we celebrated on Good Friday, that Jesus Christ gave himself over to be arrested, to be condemned, to be nailed to a cross. They say they crucified him. But we had hoped that he was the one who would redeem. To redeem Israel. We had hoped that he was the Messiah, the one who was going to fix all of this. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these. These things happened. Moreover, some women of our company amazed us. They were at the tomb early in the morning, and when they did not find his body, they came back saying that they had even seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive. Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it, just as the women had said. But him they did not see. So they tell it all. They tell all the events from Palm Sunday to Easter. And now that Jesus is caught up on the matter, he has something to say about this.> "O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory? And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself."Now, mind you, they still don't know it's Jesus. He's just a stranger. Supernaturally, he's got their eyes veiled. And these two followers of Jesus hear from this stranger, you foolish ones, O slow of heart, to believe all the prophets have spoken. You thought that hope was lost at the cross. You thought that was the end of hope. You don't know that was the very beginning of it. And then he Begins to walk through the Old Testament, begins to walk through from Moses, the law to the prophets, this is going to be Genesis to Malachi, and it begins to interpret to them all the things in the scriptures concerning himself. Y', all. There are moments in history that I just wish I could have been a fly on the wall to witness greatness, to witness a conversation like this happen. Like, if you could have been there. The moment that two people who were talking together realized that if you milked a cow, that you could actually systematize milking and have tons of milk, and the whole history of humanity was blessed because someone discovered something like that. And for those who are lactose intolerant, someone eventually discovered that you could milk almonds. And now we have that. There are moments of greatness that you get to witness that you just wish you could be there to see it. This is one of those moments where Jesus begins to walk through the Old Testament to point to all the different places where he is there. There's so many pictures and images and covenants and moments throughout the Old Testament that point to Jesus Christ. Some would call them Easter eggs. There you go. That are hidden, that point forward to what he is doing in his word. So for a moment, I just want to dream a little bit. We don't know what the substance of this conversation is, but for the moment, I just want to imagine what are some of the places he went to. Where in the Old Testament did he go to to point to himself? Did he start in Genesis 3? Did he start when the curse is being handed down to Adam and to Eve? And all of a sudden, in the middle of this curse, there's this declaration of hope, really the first declaration of the Gospel, that one day that the seed of Eve, the offspring of Eve, would crush the head of the serpent, which is the first declaration that there is a day coming that someone in the line of Eve will come and he will crush the head of evil and Satan and defeat the power of sin and death. Did he start there? Did he keep flipping through Genesis and he gets to the story of Abraham and Isaac on the mount, and he said, do you. Do you remember when Isaac was put on the altar being sacrifices Abraham's one and only son, the promised Son. But then God intervenes and says no and spares him. Do you not see that? That pointed one day to the day when God the Father would not spare his one and only Son, that he'd be raised up on an altar, on the cross to be crucified for the sins of man. That he keep flipping through the Old Testament and get to Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, and see, hey, do you see Moses? Do you see how Moses, this mediator, which is a man in the middle between God and man, mediated this covenant, that they would follow the law and they'd be in the promised land. It would go well for them all. That was pointing forward to the day when one day the mediator of a better covenant, Jesus Christ, would come and he would stand between God the Father and mankind, taking on the sins and fulfilling all the perfect righteous requirements of the law. Did he go We've been walking through first and Second Samuel. Did he go to Second Samuel 7? We went through that about a month ago, which is the Davidic covenant, the covenant with David. We looked and we saw how there was a promise that in the line of David there would be someone who would bring an eternal throne, an eternal kingdom, an eternal house, that he take them there and say, do you see how that points forward to the day that one day Jesus Christ would establish an eternal kingdom, an eternal throne. Did he keep taking them through the prophets to show how all the prophets spoke of him? Did he reference how Isaiah called him the man of sorrows, of how Jeremiah called him the righteous branch of how Ezekiel called him the one shepherd, how Daniel calls him the Son of Man, how Hosea calls him the Son who was called up out of Egypt, how Joel calls him the Lord who pours out his spirit, how Amos calls him the tent of David, how Obadiah calls him the Lord who brings his kingdom? Did he go to the story of Jonah in reference back what he taught in the Gospels, that the sign of Jonah, Jonah being in the belly of the fish for three days, points forward to when he would be in the belly of the earth for three days and he would conquer death by stepping out? Did he go to Micah and say that he calls him the ruler from Bethlehem? Did he go to Nahum that says that this is the stronghold and the day of trouble? Did he go to Habakkuk and reference how Habakkuk calls him the Messiah, the Anointed One, which is the language of expectation, that they've been sitting in the for hundreds of years before Jesus comes? Did he go to Zephaniah that calls him the King of Israel, to Haggai, that calls him the Greater Temple, to Zechariah that calls him the king who rides in on the colt, which just happened the week before on Palm Sunday? Did he finish in Malachi, when Malachi talks about How John the Baptist prepared the way for him. He could have gone anywhere from the Old Testament and said, this all points to me that the entirety of the Old Testament is pointing forward to the redemptive work of Jesus Christ, man. To be there and to witness and to wonder, what did he walk them through? What a glorious moment to see. And it made quite the impression on them, whatever he walked them through. Because at the end of all of them, they asked him, why don't you spend the night with us?> "Stay with us, for it is toward evening and the day is now far spent."So they drew near to the village to which they were going. He acted as if he were going farther, but they urged him strongly, saying, stay with us, for it is toward evening and the day is now far spent that Jesus has left such an impression on them, this stranger, that they can't know who he is. Yet they said, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, you're coming with. You're staying with us tonight. So he comes. He stays. So he went to stay with them.> When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them. And their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he vanished from their sight.So they finally get down, ready to eat, and Jesus takes the bread, just like he did a few nights ago when he instituted the Lord's Supper. And he breaks the bread and he hands it to them. And supernaturally the veil is removed and they can see Jesus. And I like to imagine that Jesus was just grinning ear to ear, just, it was me. It was me that walked him through the Scriptures. It was me. And then they don't have a moment to, like, jump across the table and embrace Him. He just gone, just vanishes, supernaturally leaves the building and they're just left hanging, like, what just happened? And then on, in response to this, says,> "Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?"And they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem. And they found the 11. And those who were with them gathered together, saying,> "The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon."Then they told what happened on the road and how he was known to them in the breaking of the bread. And they, after he vanishes, they just like, we got to get back to Jerusalem. I don't think it took them two hours. I think they sprinted. I think they sprinted all the way back to Jerusalem and they burst through the door where the disciples and all the followers of Jesus are trying to figure out what happened. Comparing and contrasting all the events of the day. And there had to be a moment where they just were like, wait, okay, you are. You're not going to believe what just happened. We just spent, like the whole afternoon with Jesus and we didn't even know he's Jesus. Like, we couldn't see him. He did something to our eyes, and then all of a sudden, he broke the bread and boom, he was there. And then he was gone. But I'm telling you, he's alive. He is risen. And that story has been told and retold and retold for the last 2000 years.Now, there's so many parts of this story that you could post up in that you could focus on. There's not one way to approach this text. I want to focus on one phrase as we close out. It's the immediate aftermath of Jesus appearing to them and then vanishing. It's what they say, did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us? The scriptures, they had. Their eyes were veiled the whole time they're with Jesus until then, but they. They make the connection to something that was happening within them. Like, did our hearts not burn within us when he. When he walked us through the Scriptures, when he taught us what all these events were supposed. Did he not. Did you feel it? Yeah, I felt it. Did you feel it? I felt it. Did our hearts not burn within us when we encountered the resurrected Jesus Christ as he declared the message of the gospel to us? That's where I want to spend the rest of our time, is trying to understand this. It's important to understanding this passage. But more importantly than that, it's one of the most important questions that you could reckon with in your entire life. So let's try to understand this. What they're pointing to is something very specific, and it's very rich how they respond. They're not talking about the literal heart. So when the Scriptures speak about the heart, this is not the literal organ that is pumping blood through your body. What they're talking about when in the rest of the Scriptures, when it speaks of the heart, the heart is the inner self. This is your inner self. And what they're tapping into is, did our. Did our hearts. Did our inner self not burn within us? Were those affections that we were sensing not stirring within us? As Jesus, the resurrected Savior, walked us through the gospel throughout the Old Testament, explained to us the story of redemption from Genesis to him? Did you not sense that holy stirring, that holy burn within us as Jesus began to connect all those dots. That is a picture of what it looks like for God to work within us. This is what it means for the. For the Spirit of God to come at work within us and to change us. And it leads us to the most important question that you could ever reckon with. Does your heart burn within you when you hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ? Does your heart stir within you when you consider the message of this Jesus? Because here's the deal. You can hear that message over and over and over again. You can know it, you can recount it. And I could. I could walk through it all. I could. We could go through the Old Testament and point out all the places where God is weaving his redemption story together, leading to the cross and the empty tomb. That we could talk about how when you flip from Malachi into the Gospel of Matthew, that Jesus, God takes on human flesh and dwells among us. We can look at how he ministered to the people, how he taught the people, all the miracles that he performed. We can go all the way to the end of each of the gospels where he's betrayed by Judas, where he's abandoned by his friends, where he is given over to Pilate, where he is nailed to a cross, where the full cup of God's wrath is poured out on him. And we can keep going to what we celebrate today, that he was resurrected and that he walked out of the tomb. And that the power of the resurrection, the meaning of the resurrection, means that death doesn't have. That's what we just sang. That death doesn't have to have a grip on us, that through faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ, we can be made new from old to new, from dead to life, that we can step into an eternal life. And we can keep flipping through the pages and we can celebrate that all of this happens by grace, through faith alone in Christ alone, to the glory of God alone. We can see how you can't earn this relationship with God, that you must trust in what Jesus has done. We can look at all of this and consider it. And, and, and what I would. What I would suppose is that many of us are familiar with that. We know that message. We know it. We've heard it. We've heard it over and over again. The central question is not do you know that message. The central question is, does your heart burn within you when you consider that message? Does God stir in you affections, worship, love, joy towards Him? That is the question that we must reckon with. That's what Ephesians, chapter One is getting at in verse 18, when it says, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you? What are the riches of his glorious inheritance? In the saints, the question is, have the eyes of your heart been opened enlightened when you consider the riches of the glorious inheritance that he secures through through his redemptive work? Does your heart burn and stir within you when you consider this? There's an old Puritan pastor named Jonathan Edwards from hundreds of years ago. He has a work called Religious Affections. It's a collection of his writings that are put together. And in this. In Religious Affections, what he's trying to do is make a distinction between false religion and true religion. So dead religion, that's a name only, and true religion, that is a relationship with God that is uniquely different. And he tries to separate this out, even goes to Luke 24, this passage, to be able to help us see that there's something different about true religion, about true relationship with God. There's something about this zeal and this love and this wonder and this worship and this wonder that he stirs within us that exemplifies a new life in Christ that is true, that is different than this false religion that may know all of these things, but God hasn't stirred within this individual affections for him. And when getting to the description of this false religion, I want to read what he wrote. He says here, their love is cold, their desires languid, their zeal low, and their gratitude small. How they can sit and hear of the infinite height and depth and length and breadth of the love of God in Christ Jesus, and of his of giving his infinitely dear Son to be offered up a sacrifice for the sins of men, and of the unparalleled love of the innocent and holy and tender Lamb of God manifested revealed in his dying agonies, his bloody sweat, his loud and bitter cries and bleeding heart. And all this for enemies. He says that you can know these things. You can sit and hear about the height and the length and the depth of the love of God that you can picture and have pictured before you this infinite, infinitely dear Son who is raised up on a cross. And we can bear witness by reading the Gospels. We can hear about his agonies and his suffering and the love that it took to stay on that cross for us. And that he does this all, all this for enemies, to redeem them from deserved eternal destruction, and to bring to unspeakable and everlasting joy and glory. And hear this and yet be cold and heavy and sensible. And regardless that we can be familiar with that message and have a heart that is cold, apathetic, does not care heavy, does not inspire to move insensible, just lacks complete sensitivity to the message of the gospel, regardless, does not consider it, does not regard it, that that is what he's getting at with this false religion.Friends, I, I, I want you to hear this very clearly. I think there are many of us in the south that are very familiar with this message. We know it, we know this message. But knowing doesn't save you. The question is, is that when you consider this message, if you know it, are your is your love cold? Are your desires? Is your zeal low? Is the gratitude small? Do you know it? But it that knowledge does inspire love and worship and affections towards Christ and faith and repentance and obedience and delighting in him over all things. Because if that isn't the fruit of what you say you believe, then the reality is you don't believe the message. Familiarity with the message of the gospel doesn't save. And Jesus may be looking at you this morning and saying, oh friend, slow of heart to believe. Slow of heart to believe this you might know all the Sunday school answers from growing up, and you might wear a cross around your neck and you might be a good, decent person who lives a good, decent life, will one day have a good decent funeral. Or people talk about you as a good, decent man or woman and none of that saves, none of it. What saves is encountering this resurrected Savior. And then your heart begins to burn within you. Your heart, your affections begin to stir within you. And my hope is on this Easter morning as we celebrate the goodness of the gospel of Jesus Christ, that he is alive, that he is risen indeed, and all of the eternal implications of hope that come with that. My hope this morning is that as you consider this message, that you might sit honestly before the Lord and you might begin to ask yourself, do I have actually believe this in a way where my heart burns for him, where my heart is stirred for him, where my affections are growing for him. And if you come to the maybe painful reality that that is not the case, my hope this morning is that you would begin to burn, that that stirring would happen in your heart. And I've walked with people long enough to know that sometimes this happens. Sometimes you can feel the conviction of the Holy Spirit beginning to work in your heart. And maybe right now you're trying to convince yourself out of this. Maybe you're trying to say, let's just get to brunch. Let's just get to the rest of the day. I don't want to reckon with this. I don't want to lean into this reality. I just want to move on. I want to press on. But I want to invite you to lean into the heat of that discomfort. Because what Jesus offers you, if he begins to stir and in your heart is a wonderful relationship with him. That is what we say every single Sunday here. That is far better than anything this world has to offer. Everything that you could possibly build your life upon in this world is nothing in comparison to Christ. Paul says it is rubbish in comparison to him. That what you are missing out on is eternally wonderful. So do not deny the heat that is burning within you. Do not run from it. Do not explain it away. Lean into it. I'm going to pray for you in a moment. And my hope is that as I pray, maybe for the first time, you'll lean into the heat. You'll begin to let the Spirit take over your life in a way that transforms you into a new creation in Christ, into someone who loves, worships, follows, and delights in God from now into eternity. But hear this. You must. You must pray. And you must ask Jesus to take over your life. That this cannot be in head knowledge only. This has to be a surrender of the heart to him.So I'm going to pray at the end of all of this. I'm going to be outside that door over there, that connect corner. And as I pray, if you for the first time are choosing to follow Jesus Christ, come talk to me. If you came with a Christian this morning who loves you, talk to him or her. But don't run from the heat. Let it take over. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, I pray that right now you might open the eyes of our heart to the reality that you loved us so much that you came. You didn't leave us in our sin and our rebellion against you, but you came and you went to the cross to die for our sins. And that you conquered, you walked out of the tomb conquering the power of death and sin in our lives. And Lord, I pray if there's anyone here this morning that has known this message from their youth, that maybe is young and knows this message can recite it back word for word, but they've never had the burning desire of the stirring of affections towards you. Lord, would you melt their heart this morning? Would you work in their heart this morning? Would you bring them to life and that life into eternity. We ask this in Jesus name. Amen.Band's going to come up, we're going to sing and we're going to worship Christ because he's worthy of our worship and worthy of our praise. And if this morning, if that moment right now, you just prayed to follow Jesus Christ, I want to invite you again. Come find me out there at the connect corner. Talk to a friend that brought you, but don't run from it this morning, lean into it.

Group Guide Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week. TranscriptGood morning. Good morning. My name is Mike. I'm an elder in training here. Today is Palm Sunday. So we're taking a break from first and Second Samuel, the series we've been doing there. And we're going to be in the Gospel According to John. This is the Sunday before Easter, and this is the time we commemorate Jesus entry into Jerusalem. Palm Sunday marks the beginning of the final week of Jesus life. Most of the Gospel accounts actually move pretty quickly from his entry into Jerusalem up to his death on the cross. But John is different. In the Gospel of John, the first 11 chapters are about Jesus life leading up to his final week on the earth. The next eight chapters are about his final week of life leading up to his death. So John really slows way down to capture some intimate moments in the life of Jesus. In fact, chapters 13 through 17 are all an account of his last night with his disciples. And so try to put yourself in that moment where you as a disciple, you've left behind your profession, you've left behind your possessions, and you've been living your daily life now with Jesus for several years. And things are starting to shift. Things are getting a little bit emotional, things are getting a little bit intense. And you can feel a sort of heaviness almost in the air. And that's what we're jumping into today. We're stepping into Jesus final conversation with his disciples before the cross. And Jesus knows he's going to die. And what we're going to read is what he chooses to communicate to his closest followers before his death. We're going to pick up today in John chapter 14. This is on page 525 in your blue Bibles. I would encourage you to follow or follow along there. If you, if you don't have a Bible, you can use that. We're going to begin in verse one. But before we do, I am going to pray because I need help. Father, we come before you now as your children, excited to hear from you and from your word. And I stand up here as a desperate man, but I know that you're the God of desperate people. Please help me this morning to forget myself and to teach people about you. In Jesus name, Amen. I'm going to pick up in verse one of chapter 14, follow along with me.> Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.> In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?> And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.> And you know the way to where I am going.> Thomas said to him, "Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?"> Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.> If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him." (John 14:1–7, ESV)All right. He starts out by saying, let not your hearts be troubled. That is to say, don't worry. Don't let your heart be anxious. Well, why is he telling them not to worry? In the context of this passage, if you go back to chapter 13, he actually says some really heavy things to them, things that would really shake them. Chapter 13 and verse 21, he tells them that one of them is going to betray him. In verse 33, he tells them he's leaving, and they can't follow, at least not immediately. And in verse 38, he looks at Peter and says, you're going to deny me? Now? Imagine being in that room. Imagine sort of going along together, business as usual. And then one night, you sit down for dinner, and all of that comes out. Oh, think of it like us having family meeting, right? We're singing, we're playing games. We're having a great time together, thinking about all the things that God has done. We're there to celebrate togetherness. And Chet hops up and says, we're planning a church. Mike and Isaac are going, and some of you need to go. And it's like whiplash. Oh, no. We were here for togetherness. And so in some sense, I think there's a feeling in this room where he's telling them all these things that they're going to do or that they're going to be without him. And I think there's a heavy, heavy weight on their shoulders. I think their thoughts are racing, their minds are racing. They're thinking things like betrayal, you're going to leave. Peter is going to just cast you aside, huh? And I think the intensity kind of rings through. And I think if we were sort of in that moment, too, and someone was telling us that's what we'd experience, we would feel that weight as well.So Jesus knows that when hearing this, the disciples would just naturally be anxious. And he says, don't worry. How? Believe in God, believe also in me. And there's two things I think we learned from his response here. One is that Jesus actually contrasts fear with belief. Why because often our anxiety is rooted in untruths, in misunderstandings, in disordered thinking. And how you deal with fear and anxiety is you reorient your mind to what is true. But it's not enough to just reorient your mind to anything. It actually has to be something that's true. Matthew Henry, in his commentary on John, says, the joy of faith is the best remedy against the griefs of sense. So that joy, the joy that comes with faith in God, stands in direct opposition to the pain of our existence. And no matter what life you've lived, you either have experienced or will experience the pain that comes with being human or on this earth. Maybe it shows itself for you in sickness or maybe in toil, maybe in labor, maybe in fractured relationships. Or maybe, like the disciples, it's the impending loss of someone you deeply care about, or the fact that, like Peter, you're about to do something awful to another person, a person that you love, no matter what it is, that makes you anxious. Jesus says, believe in God, believe also in Me. And that's what separates Christianity from the other religions. It's not believe in yourself. It's not buckle down and get through it. It's not serve God better so he'll bless you more. It's believe in God, believe be in relationship with him, and throughout a lifetime of knowing him, be slowly changed to be more like Jesus. There is hope for the anxious heart. There is hope for those dealing with trials, and it's coming from the relationship with Christ.The second thing that we see here is when he says, believe in God, believe also in me, is that he's linking himself with. With God. And this is actually some foreshadowing of what he's going to say later on. But, guys, this is serious. And I think if you've been around the church maybe for a while, you're probably so used to hearing things like this, you know, yes, Jesus is God, that you may not really flinch when you hear it. However, this was an absurd and outlandish statement. How would the Jewish men who are sitting there with him feel? It would be almost to them, like someone saying, well, I played quarterback in high school, so I should be considered alongside Tom Brady. I acted in a middle school play, so I'm expecting an invitation to this year's Oscars. Or maybe me just walking up here and saying, well, hey, we're going to go plant a church. And those of you coming with me, you don't have to worry because I'll do all the work for us. I'll Guide us. I'll lead us. Put your trust in me. I have got this. I think that some of you, even knowing that those are illustrations, would probably recoil a little bit inside at someone getting up there and doing something like that. Just know that if that was something you're a little bit sensitive to, the Jews would be way more sensitive to something like this. They were extremely sensitive to blasphemy, which is claiming to be God, and rightfully so. This was actually, in their. In their law, punishable by death. So him saying, believe in God and believe in me is saying that he is God. And that's a big deal that is included here for us by John because he says later in his book that he is writing so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that in believing you may have life in his name. So John wants to communicate to us that Jesus is God. And he records this claim that Jesus himself makes when he says, believe in God, believe also in Me. And can I tell you actually how great of a thing that is? Because if a church planter or a spiritual leader or a political leader or whoever gets up and tries to act like he is on par with God, run away from that person, he will only let you down. But Jesus, God the Son, perfect in all his attributes, will never. For whoever believes in him will not be disappointed. And to those of you in this room who hold positions of spiritual leadership, pastors, group leaders, church planners, Baptist convention workers, kid city teachers, Sunday school teachers, right people follow you as you follow Christ. Do not lose sight of him on this journey. So Jesus is saying, don't be afraid of the things to come. Instead, believe in God and believe in Me.Let's pick up in verse two.> In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?> And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.> And you know the way to where I am going. (John 14:2–4, ESV)So remember, this ties back to chapter 13, where he's telling them he's going away. The disciples love Jesus and they're concerned because they don't know where he'll be. And he tells them that he'll be in heaven. Now, he doesn't say that to them directly. The metaphor he uses is a house with many rooms. He says, in my Father's house there are many rooms. And this is a beautiful thing to believe that in the Father's house, Heaven, there is room for every disciple. And of course, this is encouraging to the disciples that he is speaking with, but it's also encouraging to the disciples that are reading this in 2026 that the father has room for all of his children. And some of you are excited about that because, you know, it kind of just sounds great. But for some of you, it's probably a little bit different because maybe here on earth, someone did not have room for you. Maybe schoolmates or neighbors, or maybe your actual family. But here, Jesus makes a promise that rests on the gracious love of God, and that is that for his disciples, for his children, there is always room. You'll hear some version of this in the world today, but they'll tell you that you have to group up with people who are like you, who can relate to you, who accept you. But in the Father's house, all of us who believe in Jesus are grouped together and we're all equal. Equal in being undeserving. But because of Jesus, there is room for us all. And we talk like this here. Sometimes we say things like, well, we're going to multiply. We're going to multiply groups to make more room for people. Even though there's some sadness, right, that comes with leaving behind the people that we grow to love. There's excitement in being able to welcome people into the family. But there is going to come a day where we will be in the Father's house, and there is space for all of his children there. And Jesus says, that's where I'm going. And the reason I'm going is to prepare that place, and one day you're going to come and be with me there. And then he says, okay, you know the way to where I am going.Thomas responds in verse five, Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way? So Jesus is talking about heaven, and they don't really seem to get it. And Thomas speaks up and says, well, we don't know where you're going, so how can we get there? And if you're sitting there with them and you didn't realize he was talking about heaven, well, you might be wondering the same thing. I don't know. Maybe they were thinking geographically. Is he going up to Samaria? Is he going back to Galilee? Are we supposed to take 20 or 26? Is it faster to go over the dam? I don't know. It depends on the time of day. It depends on the day of the week, and it depends on the month of the year. And the disciples don't often follow exactly what Jesus is trying to communicate. But Jesus answers him. He answers him.> Thomas said to him, "Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?"> Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." (John 14:5–6, ESV)So Thomas asks them, how can we know the way? And Jesus says, I am the way, the truth and the life. And this is a classic interaction of God and man, where man is so locked into his own world. What he knows, what he can see, what he can perceive, what he can touch, taste, what he can feel. And Jesus responds from his perspective, his supernatural perspective, by saying that he is the way. If you want to go to the Father's house, you don't have to go north and then turn at the right spot. You go through him, through Jesus. In other passages of scripture, like First Timothy, we read that there is one God and there is one mediator between God and men. The man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all. Jesus is the way to God. And this is turning the minds of men upside down, that they would need to get access to God not by a certain task that they perform, but by a relationship with Jesus. But he's not just the way, he's also the truth.> And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14, ESV)> Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. (John 17:17, ESV)The Word is truth. Jesus is the Word made flesh. Jesus is the truth. He's truth right in front of them. But truth about what reality? That in six days God created the world. And on the seventh, he looked over it and said that it was good. He's the truth about humanity, that they were perfect and how they were created and their desire to elevate themselves to the level of creator. God corrupted them, introduced sin, and brought on them a curse called death. He's the truth about eternity, that those in sin are destined to be forever separated from God. He's the truth about hope. That one day, through the line of David, a suffering servant would become king and reign in peace and righteousness. He is the way. He is the truth. He is the life.> For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16, ESV)> Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die." (John 11:25–26, ESV)Believing in Jesus is life. He is the way, the truth, and the life. And each of those on their own is incredible, but they do almost connect in some way. If he's the way to God, he must be true. God does not lie. If he is the way to God, he must be the life, because God does not die. And God, it must be true, because he does not lie. And if you see him, you've seen the Father. And so he claims to be both equal with the Father and the only way to access the Father.After hearing all of that, Philip has a request.> Philip said to him, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us."> Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'?> Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works.> Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves." (John 14:8–11, ESV)All right, so hereafter, hearing Thomas question, Philip sort of exclaims, show us the Father and it will be enough for us. We just need to see the Father with our eyes and we will be good. And Jesus rebukes him and he challenges him, asking, how can you say, to show us the Father? Don't you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? And I think this is another thing where if you grow up around the church or in Christianity, you might be tempted to read it and say, boy, how could Philip be so dumb? I mean, this is so clear, right? And, you know, maybe we would have picked up on this, right? Maybe, maybe not. But the problem here is actually not about hearing or comprehension. And it's not that Philip just needs to get his ears checked or practice his social skills and do some reflective listening exercises. The problem is deeper than that. And it's actually in some way similar to the problem with Thomas's question. It puts too much reliance on the natural and it misses the supernatural. And this is actually deep within all of us, that idea that if we could just see it with our eyes, and it would be so much easier to believe that if God could just tell Us the next step, to take what job, to accept, where to live. It would be so much better for us. And we do what Philip does. We say, do that Lord, and oh, it'll be enough. We won't have any more doubts, we won't have any more struggles. We won't worry. We'll believe anything God says and do anything he wants us to, as long as he just shows us what we need to see. It is that easy. But that is not the system that he has created. He has created man to take what he says in faith, not always being able to prove things. And if you're wondering why he would do it that way, consider this. Consider the ability to know all things and to see all possible ways forward. And how everything on this earth connects together is such a powerful and and weighty thing that there is only one being in the universe who can handle it, and it is not you. If you do not have to exercise faith in God, but could see everything played out, it probably would go one of two ways. One is it might just overwhelm you to the point where you would be crippled because some of you have a hard time choosing what soap to buy when you walk down the aisle in Walmart and see 100 different soaps. The other is it would cause you to rely on yourself, on what you've experienced, on what you've seen, instead of your relationship with Christ. And some of you already struggle with that. You rely on your human experience, on the jobs you've worked or the events you've hosted. And if you and Philip could just see God, that would be enough for you. And how does Jesus respond to that? Have I been with you so long and you still don't know me? Right back to the relationship to knowing Jesus is knowing the Father, that the more you get to know him, the more you realize you don't have to see anything. And that your heart and mind are guarded by his love, not your ability to anticipate all outcomes or understand all the workings of the world. And that out of that heart that's deeply connected in relationship with Christ, you can say that> Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me. (Psalm 23:4, ESV, partial)We must reject the temptation to believe that seeing with our eyes is better than knowing through relationship with Christ. Today I want you to understand that knowing Jesus means knowing God the Father, and that he is the way and the truth and the life.So what does that mean for us? How do we live in light of a truth like this? Well, Jesus is the way. He is our access to the Father. And if you've seen him, you've seen the Father. That means that we can be in true relationship with God. Terrific. That's really neat. No, this is the God who spoke the universe into existence. There is no more satisfying relationship than this. Not a best friend that you can laugh with, not. Not a spouse that you can confide in, not a child who you can nurture. No relationship can compare to this. Jesus is the truth. He is the absolute truth. He is true reality. And what he says and how he lives are the standard for how we should view the world. Jesus is the life. He. He is the victor over death. He has overcome this world. Do we need any of this, really? Well, the world would say no. There was an opinion piece written in the Washington Post in 2023 entitled, America doesn't need more God, it needs more atheists. Now, of course, I did not read it because it was behind a paywall. But that line of thinking is not new. In the 1880s, philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche famously wrote that God is dead, meaning that God, religion, and morality are no longer the foundations of society, but instead science and the reasoning of men reign supreme. So do we really need God? We've got the human spirit. We've got ingenuity. But what some call our greatest strength is actually, in fact, our deepest weakness. Because what did the serpent say to Eve when she wasn't supposed to eat of the fruit?> But the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." (Genesis 3:4–5, ESV)And she bought it and they ate the fruit because they didn't need a way to God. They would just be God. And sin and death entered the world. And humanity has been falling victim to that same exact desire for centuries. Do we really need the truth? If I say, go ahead and speak your truth, you can probably think of tons of times you've seen a phrase like that on the television or on the Internet. And what do people mean by that? What does that actually mean? It means I feel so strongly about this so much that it is reality whether you agree or not. Is that okay? Is it okay to determine what you think is reality? Can we function without objective right or wrong? Well, the answer probably always just depends on what kind of day you're having. Is that how we actually want to exist? Do we need life? Or maybe better phrased, is there any fear in death? The famous theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking said, I regard the brain as a computer which will stop working when its components fail. There is no heaven or afterlife for broken down computers. That is a fairy story from people afraid of the dark. And so if that is true, then why would we need any offer of life? If death is just the end of consciousness and we simply cease, then what really is the big deal? So what do you think? Are you satisfied with all of that? Are you satisfied with the idea that we don't need to access God because we can just be our own God and therefore we can determine what is true for ourselves and then we die and it's just nothingness? Or does something sear hot within your soul? Does something deep within you recoil at the idea of man, makes his own destiny? Does something cry out alongside the philosopher Blaise Pascal, who said that there is an infinite abyss within man that can only be filled with an infinite God? Guys,> The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. (Psalm 19:1, ESV)and he says,> I am the LORD, and there is no other. (Isaiah 45:5, ESV, partial)He is real. We are his creation. We need Him. And we're separated from him by our sin, by our insistence that we got this, that we can be in charge, that we can determine the truth. And this intrinsic rebellion causes our separation from Him. And that separation from him, what it really is, is the weight of the world on your shoulders. It's the deepest unrest you've ever experienced. It's total darkness. It's absolute silence. And that's us without him, without any hope. Until one night a few thousand years ago, a child was born. And that night God the Son entered humanity. And he grows up and he lives a perfect life, which we could never do. And he starts saying stuff like, I am the way, I am the truth, I am the life. And no one comes to God except through me. And I and the Father are one. And he is the only one who could ever actually make those claims. And they want to kill him for it, and he lets them. And he goes willingly to a death on a cross where God crushes him and makes Jesus the one who never sinned to be sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. And if we repent of our sins and put faith in this Christ, this absolute truth, we have a way to God and we have eternal life. Jesus is the way and the truth and the life. And when you know him, you know the Father and there is room for you because he guarantees it.And so Christian, if you know Jesus and you know he's the way to God, does your life reflect it. Perhaps you want to believe what he's saying, but deep down you're just a little bit skeptical, like what he is offering is too good to be true and you rather fall back on what you can do, what you can earn, and how many friends you have. If so, repent. Rest in his work do you ever take the relationship for granted? You pray when there's danger, but when things are good, it doesn't really matter to you that you have access to God. If that is you, repent of your self sufficiency and talk to him in prayer. Listen to him through His Word. Enjoy what it means to really know God. To the one today who feels downcast from broken relationship and loss, remember that there is room for you in the Father's house. The band is going to come back up. My hope today is that if you know him, you will respond to this in praise and worship to Jesus because He has reconciled you to God. And that will go into this week with our Good Friday remembrance and our celebration of the Resurrection next Sunday. Absolutely in awe of Jesus. And if you don't know him, please, please take one of those blue Bibles home and read the Gospel of John. You can know him and you can have a relationship with him and nothing will ever change your life like that.Let's pray together. Father, we thank you for Jesus coming to this earth to be the way, to be the truth, to be the life. And we thank you that we have access to you through his sacrifice. We give glory to you in the name of Jesus. Amen.

King David's Reign: Second Samuel With Dr. Clint Archer. Tonight's Sermon Is "When Holiness & Sinfulness Collide: Uzzah & The Ark" From 2 Samuel 6:1-15. Sermon Outline - 3 Questions That Teach Us How To View God's Warnings: 1. What Is Holiness? 2. What Is Sinfulness? 3. What Happens When They Collide?

Why walk with God when answers don't come quickly—and sometimes don't come at all? Watch the video of this episode on YouTube here. Russell and Beth join forces again to embark on the Bible's darkest terrain: Ecclesiastes and Job. Drawing from Beth's current teaching on Job, her newly released Bible study, and Russell's work through Hebrews 11, they explore why Scripture so often leaves suffering unresolved. Along the way, they reflect on faith as endurance rather than fragility, and the long, quiet formation that happens through daily obedience rather than spiritual breakthroughs. Beth shares wisdom shaped by decades of teaching, parenting, journaling, and marriage—including what she's learned about letting God hold people we love and how stubborn grace can sustain a life and a marriage over time.  The conversation turns finally to Job, Gethsemane, and the cries of Jesus, who not only models lament, but gathers it up and answers it entirely with his death and resurrection. If you're living through uncertainty, carrying grief you can't yet resolve, or learning how to trust God without clarity—and you're comforted by a conversation that refuses clichés while still insisting on hope—this episode is for you. Resources mentioned in this episode: Walking with God: A Five-Week Journey in Step with the Savior by Beth Moore First and Second Samuel by Eugene Peterson Thoughts in Solitude by Thomas Merton Keep up with Russell: Sign up for the weekly newsletter where Russell shares thoughtful takes on big questions, offers a Christian perspective on life, and recommends books and music he's enjoying. Submit a question for the show at questions@russellmoore.com  Subscribe to the Christianity Today Magazine: Special offer for listeners of The Russell Moore Show: Click here for 25% off a subscription. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Al, Zach, John Luke, and Christian conclude their study of David by confronting the truth that forgiveness does not erase consequences. They trace how unaddressed sin and lingering guilt created a leadership vacuum that fractured David's family, fueled rebellion, and led to civil war and the death of thousands. The guys show how private sin inevitably becomes public and why silence after repentance can be as destructive as the original failure. They close by pointing to Jesus as the true Shepherd-King who restores what sin deforms and leads with justice and mercy.  In this episode: Psalm 51; 2 Samuel 7, verses 12–16; 2 Samuel 12, verses 1–14; Genesis 4, verses 1–8; 1 Samuel 16, verses 1–13; 2 Samuel 21, verses 1–14; 2 Samuel 24, verses 15–25; Matthew 1, verses 1–17 Today's conversation is about Lessons 7 & 8 of The David Story: Shepherd, Father, King taught by Hillsdale Professor Justin Jackson. Take the course with us at no cost to you! Sign up at http://unashamedforhillsdale.com/ More about The David Story: Encounter the beauty of the Bible. The David Story: Shepherd, Father, King explores the lives of Israel's first two kings—Saul and David—to discover the Bible's profound lessons about fatherhood, the nature of sin, and the consequences of sin on both a family and a nation. While David suffers great tragedies due to his own transgressions, he models a path to redemption through repentance. Join Professor Justin Jackson in a careful reading of First and Second Samuel to gain a deeper understanding of the meaning and beauty of this story that is not only fundamental to the Christian and Jewish faiths, but also a literary masterpiece. Join us today in this pursuit of a deeper understanding of the Bible in “The David Story.” Sign up at ⁠http://unashamedforhillsdale.com/ Check out At Home with Phil Robertson, nearly 800 episodes of Phil's unfiltered wisdom, humor, and biblical truth, available for free for the first time! Get it on Apple, Spotify, Amazon, and anywhere you listen to podcasts! https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/at-home-with-phil-robertson/id1835224621 Listen to Not Yet Now with Zach Dasher on Apple, Spotify, iHeart, or anywhere you get podcasts. Chapters: 00:00-09:38 Private sin becomes public collapse 09:39-14:54 When forgiveness doesn't erase consequences 14:55-22:21 Neutrality isn't the same as innocence 22:22-30:26 Absolom's hair becomes his downfall 30:27-39:55 David returns to his shepherd origins 39:56-49:31 Jesus fixes the world David broke — Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Christian, John Luke, Al, and Zach reflect on how objectifying women leads to far-reaching consequences, using David's downfall as a sobering case study. They examine how lust distorts responsibility, turns people into collateral damage, and quietly erodes families and faith long before the fallout becomes public. Al uses his own experience with infidelity in a marriage to point to hope rooted in Psalm 51, which urges repentance, humility, and restoration as the only path forward after failure. In this episode: 2 Samuel 11, verses 1–27; 2 Samuel 12, verses 1–14; 2 Samuel 12, verses 15–23; Psalm 51, verses 1–19; Genesis 1, verse 28; Genesis 39, verses 7–12; Exodus 1, verses 1–8; Revelation 12, verse 11; 1 Kings 2, verses 1–4; Ezekiel 23, verses 1–35 Today's conversation is about Lesson 6 of The David Story: Shepherd, Father, King taught by Hillsdale Professor Justin Jackson. Take the course with us at no cost to you! Sign up at http://unashamedforhillsdale.com/ More about The David Story: Encounter the beauty of the Bible. The David Story: Shepherd, Father, King explores the lives of Israel's first two kings—Saul and David—to discover the Bible's profound lessons about fatherhood, the nature of sin, and the consequences of sin on both a family and a nation. While David suffers great tragedies due to his own transgressions, he models a path to redemption through repentance. Join Professor Justin Jackson in a careful reading of First and Second Samuel to gain a deeper understanding of the meaning and beauty of this story that is not only fundamental to the Christian and Jewish faiths, but also a literary masterpiece. Join us today in this pursuit of a deeper understanding of the Bible in “The David Story.” Sign up at ⁠http://unashamedforhillsdale.com/ Check out At Home with Phil Robertson, nearly 800 episodes of Phil's unfiltered wisdom, humor, and biblical truth, available for free for the first time! Get it on Apple, Spotify, Amazon, and anywhere you listen to podcasts! https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/at-home-with-phil-robertson/id1835224621 Listen to Not Yet Now with Zach Dasher on Apple, Spotify, iHeart, or anywhere you get podcasts. Chapters: 00:00-07:20 Taking the women duck hunting 07:21-15:15 The creeping corruption of sin 15:16-26:11 David pronounces his own harsh judgment 26:12-36:27 What true repentance looks like 36:28-43:48 Pointing to Jesus through your failure 43:48-49:36 Living with the consequences of sin — Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Al, Zach, John Luke, and Christian explore one of the Bible's most sobering warnings about sexual sin through the story of King David. The guys explain why pornography and sexual temptation rarely begin with desire alone, but with idleness, boredom, and abandoning responsibility—long before the “rooftop moment.” Al explains David's repentance in Psalm 51 as both a warning and a hope, reminding listeners that while sexual sin carries real consequences, God's covenant faithfulness still offers a path back. In this episode: 1 Samuel 13, verse 14; 1 Samuel 16, verse 7; 2 Samuel 7, verses 8–16; 2 Samuel 11, verses 1–27; Psalm 22; Psalm 23; Psalm 51; Psalm 139, verses 13–16; Matthew 12, verses 43–45; Hebrews 12, verses 28–29 Today's conversation is about Lesson 6 of The David Story: Shepherd, Father, King taught by Hillsdale Professor Justin Jackson. Take the course with us at no cost to you! Sign up at http://unashamedforhillsdale.com/ More about The David Story: Encounter the beauty of the Bible. The David Story: Shepherd, Father, King explores the lives of Israel's first two kings—Saul and David—to discover the Bible's profound lessons about fatherhood, the nature of sin, and the consequences of sin on both a family and a nation. While David suffers great tragedies due to his own transgressions, he models a path to redemption through repentance. Join Professor Justin Jackson in a careful reading of First and Second Samuel to gain a deeper understanding of the meaning and beauty of this story that is not only fundamental to the Christian and Jewish faiths, but also a literary masterpiece. Join us today in this pursuit of a deeper understanding of the Bible in “The David Story.” Sign up at ⁠http://unashamedforhillsdale.com/ Check out At Home with Phil Robertson, nearly 800 episodes of Phil's unfiltered wisdom, humor, and biblical truth, available for free for the first time! Get it on Apple, Spotify, Amazon, and anywhere you listen to podcasts! https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/at-home-with-phil-robertson/id1835224621 Listen to Not Yet Now with Zach Dasher on Apple, Spotify, iHeart, or anywhere you get podcasts. Chapters: 00:00-05:15 Christian joins the bearded brotherhood 05:16-12:56 David was a man of extremes 12:57-19:18 Great leaders are still deeply flawed 19:19-29:59 Using God's name to advance a political agenda 30:00-40:02 Boredom leads to spiritual vulnerability 40:03-51:03 David didn't have a phone, he had rooftops — Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Christian Huff awkwardly opens up a little too much about life at home, but John Luke quickly tops it by declaring he has not just one adversary, but tons of low-level foes, sparking a dramatic debate about what it means to trust God with the fate of our enemies. The guys move into the unsettling world of Saul's downfall, the “ghostwife” of Endor, and the moment Scripture proves the dead can indeed speak. David's restraint, Saul's unraveling, and the haunting echo of Samuel's return all point to the deeper truth about spiritual warfare, leadership, jealousy, and trusting God's timing. In this episode: Genesis 1; Genesis 38; Exodus 7–14; 1 Samuel 13; 1 Samuel 15; 1 Samuel 16; 1 Samuel 17; 1 Samuel 18; 1 Samuel 22; 1 Samuel 24, verse 10; 1 Samuel 26; 1 Samuel 28; 1 Samuel 31; 2 Samuel 1; 2 Samuel 2; Hebrews 12, verse 1 Today's conversation is about Lesson 5 of The David Story: Shepherd, Father, King taught by Hillsdale Professor Justin Jackson. Take the course with us at no cost to you! Sign up at http://unashamedforhillsdale.com/ More about The David Story: Encounter the beauty of the Bible. The David Story: Shepherd, Father, King explores the lives of Israel's first two kings—Saul and David—to discover the Bible's profound lessons about fatherhood, the nature of sin, and the consequences of sin on both a family and a nation. While David suffers great tragedies due to his own transgressions, he models a path to redemption through repentance. Join Professor Justin Jackson in a careful reading of First and Second Samuel to gain a deeper understanding of the meaning and beauty of this story that is not only fundamental to the Christian and Jewish faiths, but also a literary masterpiece. Join us today in this pursuit of a deeper understanding of the Bible in “The David Story.” Sign up at ⁠http://unashamedforhillsdale.com/ Check out At Home with Phil Robertson, nearly 800 episodes of Phil's unfiltered wisdom, humor, and biblical truth, available for free for the first time! Get it on Apple, Spotify, Amazon, and anywhere you listen to podcasts! https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/at-home-with-phil-robertson/id1835224621 Listen to Not Yet Now with Zach Dasher on Apple, Spotify, iHeart, or anywhere you get podcasts. Chapters: 00:00-05:50 Potty training mayhem 05:51-09:15 The melancholy of King Saul 09:16-14:44 The cultural impact of foreskins? 14:45-20:02 David respects his would-be murderer 20:03-28:05 Saul's sin leads to slaughter 28:06-34:30 A message from beyond the grave 34:31-41:06 The big plot twist no one saw coming 41:07-49:41 Trusting God with your enemies — Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Al and Zach realize Willie's long-standing penchant for sibling rivalry didn't stop with his generation as Christian and John Luke face off along their shared property lines. The guys revisit Phil's tongue-in-cheek warning about a notorious manhood killer  that's apparently caused years of collateral damage to Robertson landscaping. Studying Saul and David reveals how pride, jealousy, and excuse-making unravel leaders, and what faithful people can do when those in charge keep making the wrong choices.  In this episode: Deuteronomy 17; 1 Samuel 1–4; 1 Samuel 5–12; 1 Samuel 13–18; 1 Samuel 18–2 Samuel 1 Today's conversation is about Lesson 4 of The David Story: Shepherd, Father, King taught by Hillsdale Professor Justin Jackson. Take the course with us at no cost to you! Sign up at ⁠http://unashamedforhillsdale.com/⁠ More about The David Story: Encounter the beauty of the Bible. The David Story: Shepherd, Father, King explores the lives of Israel's first two kings—Saul and David—to discover the Bible's profound lessons about fatherhood, the nature of sin, and the consequences of sin on both a family and a nation. While David suffers great tragedies due to his own transgressions, he models a path to redemption through repentance. Join Professor Justin Jackson in a careful reading of First and Second Samuel to gain a deeper understanding of the meaning and beauty of this story that is not only fundamental to the Christian and Jewish faiths, but also a literary masterpiece. Join us today in this pursuit of a deeper understanding of the Bible in “The David Story.” Sign up at ⁠http://unashamedforhillsdale.com/ Check out At Home with Phil Robertson, nearly 800 episodes of Phil's unfiltered wisdom, humor, and biblical truth, available for free for the first time! Get it on Apple, Spotify, Amazon, and anywhere you listen to podcasts! https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/at-home-with-phil-robertson/id1835224621 Listen to Not Yet Now with Zach Dasher on Apple, Spotify, iHeart, or anywhere you get podcasts. Chapters: 00:00-04:05 Phil's advice on not losing your manliness 04:06-09:57 Saul makes the wrong choice every single time 09:58-16:50 The seductive trappings of power 16:51-24:17 Taking responsibility for your actions is key 24:18-29:15 Samuel goes full-on Old Testament 29:16-34:20 The problem with Sunday school stories 34:21-39:11 David starts as a DoorDasher 39:12-49:00 David rope-a-dopes Goliath to become king — Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Al, Zach, John Luke, and Christian explore the principle of “no kings” and how cultural envy pushed Israel to demand a leader who looked impressive but lacked character and paid for it dearly. The guys  trace the fallout from choosing Saul, contrast it with David's repentant heart, and show how wanting to resemble other nations sent Israel down a destructive path.  In this episode: Genesis 11; Genesis 12; Genesis 3, verse 24; Genesis 4; Exodus 14; Exodus 16; Exodus 17; Exodus 25; Deuteronomy 17; Joshua 2; Joshua 7; Judges 2; Judges 21; 1 Samuel 4, verses 19–22; 1 Samuel 5; 1 Samuel 6; 1 Samuel 8; 1 Samuel 9; 1 Samuel 10; Jonah 1; Hebrews 12, verses 28–29; Psalm 51; Romans 1 Today's conversation is about Lesson 1 of The David Story: Shepherd, Father, King taught by Hillsdale Professor Justin Jackson. Take the course with us at no cost to you! Sign up at ⁠http://unashamedforhillsdale.com/⁠ More about The David Story: Encounter the beauty of the Bible. The David Story: Shepherd, Father, King explores the lives of Israel's first two kings—Saul and David—to discover the Bible's profound lessons about fatherhood, the nature of sin, and the consequences of sin on both a family and a nation. While David suffers great tragedies due to his own transgressions, he models a path to redemption through repentance. Join Professor Justin Jackson in a careful reading of First and Second Samuel to gain a deeper understanding of the meaning and beauty of this story that is not only fundamental to the Christian and Jewish faiths, but also a literary masterpiece. Join us today in this pursuit of a deeper understanding of the Bible in “The David Story.” Sign up at ⁠http://unashamedforhillsdale.com/ Check out At Home with Phil Robertson, nearly 800 episodes of Phil's unfiltered wisdom, humor, and biblical truth, available for free for the first time! Get it on Apple, Spotify, Amazon, and anywhere you listen to podcasts! https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/at-home-with-phil-robertson/id1835224621 Listen to Not Yet Now with Zach Dasher on Apple, Spotify, iHeart, or anywhere you get podcasts. — Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

John Luke drops his big baby news with a major twist, and the announcement leads into a candid conversation about family legacy as the guys share their thoughts on the greatest strengths and weaknesses of their fathers. Their study of 1 and 2 Samuel, along with the greater story of David, shows them why honesty about both sides matters when you're raising kids, leading people, or passing on faith to the next generation. Christian weighs in with a few family insights of his own, including the time he was attacked by John Luke's overly aggressive honey bees in his own yard. In this episode: Numbers 6, verses 1–21; Numbers 6, verses 24–26; Judges 13, verses 1–25; 1 Samuel 1, verses 1–28; 1 Samuel 2, verses 12–36; 1 Samuel 3, verses 1–21; 1 Samuel 4, verses 1–22; 1 Samuel 13, verse 14; Acts 2, verses 1–21; Acts 13, verse 22; Psalm 51, verses 1–19 Today's conversation is an overview of The David Story: Shepherd, Father, King taught by Hillsdale Professor Justin Jackson. Take the course with us at no cost to you! Sign up at ⁠http://unashamedforhillsdale.com/⁠ More about The David Story: Encounter the beauty of the Bible. The David Story: Shepherd, Father, King explores the lives of Israel's first two kings—Saul and David—to discover the Bible's profound lessons about fatherhood, the nature of sin, and the consequences of sin on both a family and a nation. While David suffers great tragedies due to his own transgressions, he models a path to redemption through repentance. Join Professor Justin Jackson in a careful reading of First and Second Samuel to gain a deeper understanding of the meaning and beauty of this story that is not only fundamental to the Christian and Jewish faiths, but also a literary masterpiece. Join us today in this pursuit of a deeper understanding of the Bible in “The David Story.” Sign up at ⁠http://unashamedforhillsdale.com/ Check out At Home with Phil Robertson, nearly 800 episodes of Phil's unfiltered wisdom, humor, and biblical truth, available for free for the first time! Get it on Apple, Spotify, Amazon, and anywhere you listen to podcasts! https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/at-home-with-phil-robertson/id1835224621 Listen to Not Yet Now with Zach Dasher on Apple, Spotify, iHeart, or anywhere you get podcasts. Chapters: 00:00-4:55 Christian, the inappropriate prankster 04:56-8:45 John Luke's big baby announcement 08:56-15:15 Christian is attacked by bees 15:16-23:00 The strength & weaknesses of our fathers 23:01-30:34 Receiving God's gifts & giving them back 30:35-41:07 God's pattern is outside our understanding 41:08-50:57 Who loves you enough to confront you? — Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices