1 Chronicles

SoulSearching Sunday ~ Sacrifice, Promises, Worship

12:00 AM

Sunday, April 8, 2018



Week Fourteen

Welcome!  We pray that you have all had a precious time worshipping the Lord this morning!  Below you will find some thought provoking questions that will provide you a starting point to your journal writing to complete this week.  We hope that you will find this time soul satisfying!

Our reading this week was 1 Chronicles 10 - 2 Chronicles 9:31.

 1. What sacrifices can you or do you make out of devotion to God? What is the condition of your heart when you sacrifice smoothing in your life for Him? Ask God to show you how to sacrifice with a glad heart in worship of Him who gives all good gifts.

 “David remarked lovingly to his men, ‘Oh, how I would love some of that good water from the well of Bethlehem, the one by the gate.’ So the Three broke through the Philistine lines, drew some water from the well, and brought it back to David. But David refused to drink it. Instead he poured it out before the LORD.” (1 Chronicles 11:17-18)

 2. To which of God’s promises for you and your family do you cling? In what ways has He begun to fulfill those promises? Praise Him for His faithfulness throughout the generations, and pray that God’s name would be glorified through His faithfulness to you and your loved one.

 “And now O LORD, do as you have promised concerning me and my family. May it be a promise that will last forever. And my Your name be established and honored forever so that all the world will say, ‘The LORD Almighty is God over Israel!’”  (1Chronicles 17:23-24)

 3. What do you think makes a great worship experience? Is it the effort of the worshipper (you) or the object of the worship (God)? Pray for the LORD to inhabit your worship and make it a beautiful construction built for His glory.
“This will be a magnificent Temple because our God is an awesome God, greater than any other.” (2 Chronicles 2:5)



1 Chronicles

A Legacy of Spiritual Blessings {1Chronicles 28-29}

11:48 PM




My husband and I were both raised by single working mothers. Both our mothers’ motto was: “You won’t receive any wealth from me, except your education”, so they both focused on helping their children graduate from college and they succeeded, which made them feel proud and grateful! Of course my husband and I are forever grateful to them for all their love, dedication and effort, but there was something they missed while bringing us up: teaching us the fear of the Lord according to the Scriptures. But none can give what he has not. Over the years both my husband and I recognize the great blessing we’ve had as parents to be able to raise our children with Jesus and His Word as our foundation.  Our focus and prayers have been that our children would have a passion and commitment for God and His precepts!

David knew the importance of this and in today’s reading, as he assembled all the leaders of Israel in what would be the "passing of the torch" ceremony to Solomon, he spoke these words:

“8 Now therefore, in the sight of all Israel, the assembly of the Lord, and in the hearing of our God, observe and seek after all the commandments of the Lord your God so that you may possess the good land and leave it as an inheritance to your sons after you forever.” (1 Chron. 28:8)

He first spoke to the leaders and the people of Israel. We as parents (leaders) should also consider these words:
Be careful to seek out all the commandments of the LORD:

- Be careful, in the sense that they had to regard this responsibility as important and worthy of attention.
- Seek out the commandments of God, searching the Scriptures diligently.

Then he speaks to Solomon, his son. I believe we can also take these words to our children:
9 “As for you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father [have personal knowledge of Him, be acquainted with, and understand Him; appreciate, heed, and cherish Him] and serve Him with a blameless heart and a willing mind; for the Lord searches all hearts and minds, and understands every intent and inclination of the thoughts. If you seek Him [inquiring for and of Him and requiring Him as your first and vital necessity] He will let you find Him; but [b]if you abandon (turn away from) Him, He will reject you forever. 10 Consider this carefully, for the Lord has chosen you to build a house for the sanctuary. Be courageous and strong and do it.” (1 Chron. 28:9)
- Know the God of your father: David's exhortation to Solomon begins with the most important aspect - emphasizing a genuine commitment to a real relationship with the living God.  This is something David pursued and was even recognized as a man after God’s heart (Acts 13:22).

- Serve Him with a loyal heart and with a willing mind: David also exhorted Solomon to serve God with both his heart and mind. Both of these are important to truly serve Him!



We notice that the command to know came before the command to serve. "To know God is to serve Him. All failure in service is the result of loss of vision of God, misapprehension of Him, due to some distance from Him." (Morgan)

David gave Solomon a reason to commit his heart and mind to God: for the LORD searches all hearts and understands all the intent of the thoughts (Jeremiah 17:10). When we truly understand God and His omniscience we will much more naturally serve Him as we should.

May we as parents continue to trust the life of our children to our Heavenly Father, as we commit ourselves to seek him and serve him with all our hearts!  May we be able with His help and guidance, to model a strong faith for our next generations!

May we as families yearn to build that spiritual temple from which will flow all the Spiritual blessings that He has prepared for those who love him! (1 Corinth. 2:8-10)

“The temple must be a sacred thing, and a type of Christ; it must be framed by Divine teaching. Christ is the true temple, the church is the gospel temple, and heaven the everlasting temple; all are framed according to the Divine counsels, and the plan laid in the Divine wisdom, ordained before the world, for God’s glory and our good.” M. Henry

Blessings my sisters!
Mari


1 Chronicles

The Holiness of God {1 Chronicles 13:1 - 16:43}

12:30 AM


April 3, 2018

Have you ever been so excited that you were dancing and singing, having a good ole time, and suddenly someone showed up and put a halt to your celebration?  Well, that’s what happens in our reading today.  David was attempting to move the Ark of God.  David was worshipping the Lord the way he knew how, with music and dancing, only to discover he hadn’t read up on the law and regulations. 

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God had given specific instructions about how the ark was to be carried (Numbers 4:5-15), and those instructions were being neglected.  The Levites were responsible to move the Ark and it was to be carried on their shoulders with poles through the rings (Numbers 7:9).  It was never to be touched.  Bringing the Ark on a cart followed the Philistines’ example in 1 Samuel 6, and although Uzzah was trying to protect the Ark, he had to face the consequences of his sin and David was reminded that his obedience to God’s law was more important than his enthusiasm.  David consulted with his officials and not with God reminds us that although our friends may give us godly advice,  there is no substitute for God’s direction.

I think we can become a little too comfy with God and turn Him into our buddy.  But God is holy.  R.C. Sproul makes this observation from Isaiah 6; “The Bible says that God is holy, holy, holy.  Not that He is merely holy, or even holy, holy.  He is holy, holy, holy.  The Bible never says that God is love, love, love, or mercy, mercy, mercy, or wrath, wrath, wrath, or justice, justice, justice.  It does say that He is holy, holy, holy the whole earth is full of His glory.”

What does it mean to be holy?  The primary meaning of holy is separate.   God is far above us.  Exodus 15:11 says, “Who else among the gods is like you O LORD?  Who is glorious in holiness like you – so awesome in splendor, performing such wonders?”  And 1 Samuel 2:2 says, “No one is holy like the LORD!  There is no one besides you; there is no Rock like our God.”

When things are made holy, they are set apart.  They are used in a pure way.  They are to reflect purity as well as simply being apart.  “Who may climb the mountain of the LORD?  Who may stand in His holy place?  Only those whose hands and hearts are pure, who do not worship idols and never tell lies.”  Psalm 24:3-4

We may be upset with God and how he deals with disobedience, but remember what happened to Moses.  He was angry with those “stiff-necked people” when they arrived at Kadesh (a place whose name meant “holy”) and there was no water to drink and the people were protesting that they had been misled by Moses.  So Moses and Arron went to the tent of meeting and the glory of the Lord appeared to them and God commanded Moses to take his rod and speak to the rock, from which water would flow.  Moses was so angry with the people that when they gathered before the rock, instead of merely speaking to the rock as commanded, in his anger, Moses struck the rock twice.  And the consequences were severe – he never entered the Promised Land.  (Numbers 20:12). 

We may not quite understand the severity of this and question God’s anger.  The act was striking the rock.  But it was much more than this.  Striking the rock was an act of disobedience, of failing to follow God’s instructions.  It was identified by God as an act of unbelief.

Irreverence is a dangerous problem.  Even when our motives are sincere and we are actively involved in worshipping God, we must be mindful of the holiness of God and maintain reverence for Him by our obedience to His instructions and commands.  When God struck Ananias and Sapphria dead, unbelievers did not flock to church, but all came to fear God, and rightly so.  If the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, then the holiness of God must not be ignored.  God’s holiness will drive some away, but it will drive the elect to the cross.  We should be like Isaiah and Paul and be God-pleasers and not man-pleasers.  Paul did not water down his message and he was never irreverent in regard to the holiness of God.

As I write this and anticipating Easter Sunday, I can’t help but think of the attitude of all those coming to worship.  We are strongly warned about worship that fails to take the holiness of God seriously enough.  Irreverence is a serious offense as we can see from both the Old and New Testaments.  If an enthusiastic and sincere Uzzah can be struck dead for his irreverence and Moses can be kept from the Promised Land because of his irreverence and failure to obey God, then what about us?  How well do we view God’s holiness?

I want to add how thankful I am that Jesus followed God’s commands.  If He would have listened to those taunts to come down from the cross, He would have never risen from the grave!   But listen, His glory and holiness are no longer veiled.  He is the “Holy One”.  The resurrection is the seal of approval on the holiness of Jesus Christ.  The sinless Lamb of God died in our place.  The body of the Lord, the Church, is to be holy.  How well do we conduct ourselves?  The holiness of God requires us to take our worship seriously.  We need to regard God’s presence seriously.  It does not mean our worship is joyless and somber.  We just need to be cautious about offending His presence by our irreverence.


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1 Chronicles

Soul Searching Sunday ~ His Word!

12:00 AM

Sunday, April 1, 2018



Week Thirteen

Welcome!  Happy Easter!  We pray that you have all had a precious time this morning worshipping and celebrating the Risen Lord!  Below you will find some thought provoking questions that will provide you a starting point to your journal writing to complete this week.  We hope that you will find this time soul satisfying!

Our reading this week was 2 Kings 1 - 1 Chronicles 9:45.

 1. What enemies do you face? The battle of the spiritual realm is no less fierce or dangerous than the physical one - if anything, it is more so. Pray for the help of the heavenly host. God is for you...What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?" (Romans 8:31)

 "'Don't be afraid!' Elisha told him. 'For there are more on our side than on theirs!'" (2 Kings 6:16)

 2. What relationships, responsibilities, or material possessions compete for the devotion that only God deserves? What can you do to make sure that you worship God alone?

 "Worship only the LORD, who brought you out of Egypt with such mighty miracles and power. You must worship Him and bow before Him; offer sacrifices to Him alone." (2 Kings 17:36)

 3. What do you enjoy most about reading, studying, and applying God's Word? The Word of God has cleansing power. The truth is sharp and cuts through sin. Pray that the LORD would make it come alive to you, to help you treasure it, know it, and live it.

 "Josiah also exterminated the mediums and psychic, the household gods, and every other kind of idol worship, both in Jerusalem and throughout the land of Judah. He did this in obedience to all the laws written in the scroll that Hilkiah the priest found in the LORD's Temple." (2 Kings 23:24)