Tag: king

Published April 29, 2024

Who’s Building Who’s House?

You might recall that 1 & 2 Samuel were originally written as one book – and it was divided only because one scroll simply wasn’t enough to hold the whole story – and so they wrote it out on 2 scrolls (1 & 2 Samuel). We started working through 1 Samuel back in January of 2020 – we took a pause through 2022/2023 and then have been working through the book of 2 Samuel since the beginning of this year. But today we we have arrived at central passage of the whole book. That’s not to say that we’re halfway through, (we’re just about 3/4 of the way through the entire book – and roughly 1/3 of the way through 2 Samuel specifically) but today’s passage in 2 Samuel chapter 7 is like the climax of the whole story! This is one of the main reasons why the stories of Samuel & Saul & David have all been recorded for us and preserved as Scripture! This is the theological centrepiece of the whole book.

This chapter contains what theologians call the “Davidic Covenant” – which is an incredible promise that God made to David – but it also includes some amazing promises for us! It’s one of the foundational covenants of the Old Testament that help us understand who Jesus is and what He came to do.

I read this week that there are about 40 difference references throughout the Bible that all point back to this chapter – so this is certainly a chapter worth studying!

And of course, one brief sermon won’t explore all the depths and insights to be found in this chapter, but we can certainly find a few good nuggets this morning – and perhaps you can do some mining on your own this week!

Now just to give you an idea of where we are in this story – We are still in the very early years of David’s rule as king over Israel. He has recently conquered the fortress of Jerusalem and has made it his capital city. He has build a palace for himself within it’s walls and he has also brought into the city the Ark of the Covenant (which is the symbol of God’s own presence dwelling among His people).

At this point, there’s not much for war going on right now. The Philistines have certainly been a thorn in David’s side in the past, (and the will be again just in the next chapter) but at the moment, things are pretty quiet.

So with all that in mind, we read in 2 Samuel chapter 7 – starting at verse 1:

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Published January 15, 2024

David Waits for the Lord

So last Sunday we either started a new series or continued an old one – both statements are true – it just depends on how you think about it! We began working through the book of 2 Samuel – which is really just a continuation of 1 Samuel.

Back in 2020/2021, we worked our way through the book of 1 Samuel – looking at characters like Hannah, Eli, Samuel, Saul, eventually David. We concluded that book with the death of Saul after he was mortally wounded in a battle against the Philistines.

Now of course, years before Saul’s death, David had been chosen by God and anointed by Samuel to be the future king of Israel. That had happened when David was still a boy. But now David had grown up, had risen through the ranks of the armies of Israel (very successfully, I might add), and was now quite famous throughout the land of Israel. However, King Saul was so jealous of David’s success and popularity, that he had become determined to kill David. And so David and a band of his faithful men had been on the run from Saul that for the last several years – hiding out in Philistine territory – pretending to be allied with them so that Saul would leave them alone!

But now, the Philistines had just defeated Saul’s army at Mount Gilboa and both Saul and his three sons were killed. And that’s about where 1 Samuel concludes and 2 Samuel begins.

We read in 2 Samuel chapter 1 last Sunday how an Amalekite had brought David the news that Saul and his sons were killed in battle. This Amalekite even claimed to be the guy to put Saul out of his misery after he had been mortally wounded by the Philistines. Of course, we’re not entire sure if that was true, since 1 Samuel 31 says that Saul fell on his own sword and died – while this Amalekite claimed that he killed Saul after Saul asked him end his suffering and spare him from being captured by the Philistines.

But however it actually happened, this young Amalekite man tells David that he was the one to end the life of Saul and that he has now brought to David King Saul’s crown and royal armband.

And this is where we’re going to pick up the story today.

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Published January 23, 2023

King Jesus

For the last several weeks we have been looking at Paul’s second missionary journey. So far on this journey, Paul (along with Silas & Timothy) had revisited all of the churches that Paul had planted during his first missionary journey. Then after that, being joined by Dr. Luke in Troas, they went on to Macedonia to preach the Gospel to those who had never heard the Good News about Jesus!

Their first stop was in Philippi – and the first person who accepted their message was a woman named Lydia. After hearing the Gospel, she and her whole household believe in Christ and were baptized. From that point on, she invited Paul & his team to stay at her home – and it appears that her home become the central meeting place for the newly planted church in that city.

However, not all was smooth sailing for this missionary team. Before long a slave girl – who was a fortune teller empowered by a demon – began following them around the city, shouting after them. This went on for some time until finally, in the name of Jesus, Paul commanded the demon to leave the slave girl – and the demon immediately obeyed. This was wonderful news for this girl – who was now freed from the grip of this demon – but it was terrible news for the slave girl’s owners who had made a lot of money from her fortune telling!

Well, these slave owners stirred up the whole city against Paul & Silas – and the city officials had them beaten and thrown into prison.

And we didn’t talk about this last week, but you might have noticed that we’re only told that Paul & Silas were beaten and thrown into prison – there was no mention of Timothy or Luke being taken as well. This is probably because Paul & Silas were Jews, but Timothy and Luke were Greek. As we noted last week, the city of Philippi was a Roman colony and as such, their Roman’ loyalties were very strong. Of course, this also meant that they reflected Rome’s unfavourable view of Jews at this time. The emperor Claudius had just expelled all the jews from the city of Rome because he saw them as rebellious, trouble-makers. And so it’s easy to see how the city of Philippi (as a Roman Colony) could quickly be convinced that Paul & Silas were some of those rebellious trouble-makers as well!

But of course, being beaten up and thrown into prison was no hinderance to the ministry of Paul & Silas. It didn’t matter their circumstances, they were able to joyfully praise the Lord and share the Gospel message to anyone who listened – even the belly of a dark prison!

What’s more, God had carefully arranged all of this to happen so that the jailer and his entire household could come to faith in Christ! As we read last week, as Paul and Silas were praying and singing in the middle of the night, a tremendous earthquake struck the prison, and all the prison doors flew open and the prisoner’s chains fell off! Well, of course, the jailer woke up and saw all the doors open and assumed the prisoners had all escaped!

Now of course, the penalty for allowing a prisoner to escape was death! And so the jailer concluded that if the prisoners were all gone, he might as well kill himself as quickly and as painlessness as he could – since the Roman authorities would not likely be as kind!

But Paul quickly called out to the man “Stop! Don’t kill yourself! We are all here.”

And this is when the jailer realized that something was very different about these men. They had something that he wanted. And so as he brought them out, he fell before them and asked “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

Well, Paul & Silas were able to tell the jailer exactly what He must to do to be saved – He had to believe in the Lord Jesus! And He did! Even in the middle of the night, the jailer brought them to his house, washed their wounds, gave them a meal, and He and his entire household were all baptized because they had all put their faith in Jesus Christ.

And so that brings us to our passage today! At this point, Paul & Silas are still in jail – or at least, under the guard of the jailer! Since they’ve been hanging out at the jailers house, I’d guess they probably didn’t return to get locked up in the actual prison cell after that – they had clearly proven to the jailer that they weren’t going to escape!

But regardless, their situation with the city officials was not yet resolved. So we’ll see what happens as we read on today.

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Published November 28, 2022

The Promise of Hope

How many people here are planning to have an Advent Calendar of some sort this Christmas? If you don’t know what an advent calendar is, basically, it’s a countdown for Christmas! Its kinda like a regular calendar except it usually only has 24 or 25 days on it and each day is printed on a little door that opens to reveal something on the other side.

Sometimes’s just a little picture or saying or maybe even a Bible verse behind each door. But most often there is a little gift inside. For example, growing up, we often had an advent calendar that had little chocolates behind each door. More recently, I know several people who have had lego advent calendars with little mini legos sets behind each door. But the idea is you start on December 1st, and then each day, you get to open the corresponding door and get the little prize inside! And of course, the biggest door with the biggest prize is always on the 25th – so it’s a great way to build anticipation for Christmas.

And as a church, we do a similar thing. Of course, we only meet together once a week, so we don’t have a daily countdown, but we do have a weekly countdown. We count down the four weeks before Christmas, which of course starts today.

But instead of an advent calendar, we have an Advent wreath – which has five candles – one for each week, plus one final candle for Christmas Day. Each Sunday of Advent we light a candle – not only to build anticipation for Christmas, but also to remind us of what Christmas is all about.

It’s so easy to get caught up in the shopping and the festivities and the family gatherings – and all those other good things that come with Christmas – but in all that activity – we often neglect to put much thought into what we’re actually celebrating.

Christmas is a time to remember and celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ! That’s why His name is right in the title – Christmas – or “CHRIST”mas!

And so these Advent candles – each reminding us of a different aspect of the true meaning of Christmas – are a great way to help us remember that Jesus truly is the reason for the season.

That’s why, over these next five weeks, we’re going to pause our series going through the Book of Acts, and instead we’re just going to talk about the meaning behind each of these candles. What is Christmas really all about? And chances are, I’m not going to say anything that most of us haven’t already heard many times before! But if you’re like me, we could probably use the reminder!

This morning we have already heard that this first candle is called the Prophet’s Candle or the Candle of Hope. We also mentioned that over 1/4 of the Bible is prophetic in nature. And you might find that a little bit surprising. I mean, there is a lot of stuff in the Bible – history, letters, poetry, songs…. Does prophecy really make up more than 25% of entire the Bible?

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Published April 4, 2022

The Misunderstood Messiah

If you come from a more traditional Christian background, you’ll likely know that next Sunday is Palm Sunday. That’s the Sunday that begins “Passion Week” or “Holy Week” as it is sometimes called – which of course is the week that leads up to the death and resurrection of Jesus. So traditionally, we would celebrate Palm Sunday next week and then Easter the week after that. However, I’m going to bump things up one week and talk about Palm Sunday today, leaving next Sunday to talk through the Last Supper – and then of course, we’ll go through the Easter story on Easter Sunday as usual.

So hopefully, that doesn’t mess up your traditional expectations too much – but there is just so much going on in that final week of the life of Christ, that I thought it might be best to spread it out a little bit.

Now as we’ve been following the life of Christ, it’s been interesting to see how all the four different Gospels vary in what parts of Christ’s life they include. In fact, there are actually very few events in the life and ministry of Jesus that are recorded in all four Gospels – but Palm Sunday (or the Triumphant Entry – as it may be labeled in your Bibles) is one of the them.

And although this event is recorded in all four Gospels – there is still quite a variety in the details that are included in each Gospel. And so today, instead of sticking with any one particular Gospel, I’m going to try to pull the details from each of them so that we can get a more complete picture of what’s going on here.

Now if you were with us last week, you’ll remember how Jesus had just raised Lazarus back to life after Lazarus had died from a severe sickness. Because of this amazing miracle, many people believed in Jesus! And I want to begin today by reading the very next verses that follow that story – because they really set things up for what is about to happen next. We actually ended with verse 45 last week in John chapter 11 – and so let’s begin with that same verse today.

45 Many of the people who were with Mary believed in Jesus when they saw this happen.

46 But some went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. 47 Then the leading priests and Pharisees called the high council together. “What are we going to do?” they asked each other. “This man certainly performs many miraculous signs. 48 If we allow him to go on like this, soon everyone will believe in him. Then the Roman army will come and destroy both our Temple and our nation.”

John 11:45-48

Now this is pretty significant. In these few verses, we begin to see just how concerned the leading priest and Pharisees had become about about Jesus. Their fear was that if all the people believed that Jesus was the Messiah, that would naturally lead to a revolt against Rome. You see, in their minds (and really, in the minds of all the Jews at that time) the Messiah was going to be a political and military leader much like King David or perhaps like some of the Judges of old – and he would free them from the oppression of the Romans – who had conquered them some time earlier! That was the image of the Messiah that they had formed in their minds from all the different Old Testament prophecies regarding the Messiah.

However, if Jesus were not the true Messiah (and the Pharisees were certain that He was not), then, when He would undoubtedly attempt to lead a revolt against Romans – it was sure to end in disaster! The Romans had no mercy on rebels – and the religious leaders feared that the Romans would make Jerusalem pay dearly for this Jesus-led insurrection that was sure to come – destroying both the temple and their nation!

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Published January 3, 2022

The Worship of the Wisemen

Through the month of December, our Sunday morning messages revolved around the characters of the Christmas story. We looked first at Jesus himself, then his earthly father Joseph, then his very young mother Mary, and then finally last week we looked at the shepherds who were outside of Bethlehem on the night of Jesus’ birth. Typically we tend to look at the events of Christmas more so than the characters, so I’ve appreciated the new perspective that we’ve gained as we’ve looked more in-depth at these different people.

Now my plan for today was to start leading us through a new series of messages that will take us right on through until Easter. Basically, I want us to walk through the life and ministry of Jesus Christ from birth to resurrection. However, I feel like we’ve kinda missed an important set of characters in the Christmas story. You’ve may have realized too, that we haven’t looked at the wisemen or King Herod.

And so today, I want to use the wisemen as a bridge between these two series of messages. They will be the final characters in the Christmas series, but also the first story in this new series as we begin to look at the life and ministry of Jesus Christ.

After all, the wisemen really do serve as a transitional story between the baby Jesus and the young child Jesus. Despite what most nativity scenes depict, the wisemen most certainly did not gather around the manger to meet baby Jesus on the night he was born, but rather, they met Jesus at least days, weeks, or even months after his birth! But we’ll look at all that stuff as we go through our passage today.

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