Divided…

 Divided….

My first word this morning in Words with Friends was “ruins”…what a sad word…especially after reading 1 Kings 12…the great divide of the nation after Solomon’s reign…

Several years ago, a group of students and family wandered around the place where an alter as set up, the ruins and excavations of Dan…

 Then Jeroboam fortified Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim and lived there. From there he went out and built up Peniel. Jeroboam thought to himself, “The kingdom will now likely revert to the house of David. If these people go up to offer sacrifices at the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem, they will again give their allegiance to their lord, Rehoboam king of Judah. 

They will kill me and return to King Rehoboam.” After seeking advice, the king made two golden calves. He said to the people, “It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Here are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.” 

One he set up in Bethel, and the other in Dan. And this thing became a sin; the people came to worship the one at Bethel and went as far as Dan to worship the other. 

Jeroboam built shrines on high places and appointed priests from all sorts of people, even though they were not Levites. 

He instituted a festival on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, like the festival held in Judah, and offered sacrifices on the altar. This he did in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves he had made. And at Bethel he also installed priests at the high places he had made. On the fifteenth day of the eighth month, a month of his own choosing, he offered sacrifices on the altar he had built at Bethel. So he instituted the festival for the Israelites and went up to the altar to make offerings.

1Kgs.12.25-33

This brought back personal memories for me..not only the amazing to trip to Israel…but, further back to  one of the church splits we were a part of…so sad…so hurting to so many…to watch the breakdown of relationships, families, a community, reputations…the reputation of the Christian community, the smear it  caused for the Glory of God…man’s downfall…and it has taken years to repair…the “old guard versus the new guard”…the turning away of advice…the turning away…

God was good and has made good come from that division, but it has take years…but the sting still hits some….

Thank YOU….

 Unless the Lord builds the house,the builders labor in vain.Unless the Lord watches over the city,the guards stand watch in vain.

Ps.127.1, Solomon 

 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

Eph.3.20,Eph.3.21

Good is good…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABWnXNurPx0

A sad ending…

 A sad finish…

When I was in women’s ministry and going to seminary in women’s ministry studies, one hurt that came up more times than I wanted was pornography…women’s husbands involved in this lifestyle….plus, in the town I lived in for a time had legalized brothels, gambling……

It is hard to imagine and see the heartache that the families, wives and even the men endured living with pornography easily accessible and the constant temptation…. Statistics at the time said that only 3% of marriages made it through these circumstances…the consequences were severe for all…

Reading about Solomon’s downfall to the love of many foreign women is a sad commentary of his fall…one who was so gifted, so blessed, so intelligent, so wise to falling into the treachery of idol worship and lust of the flesh…leading to the dividing of his nation …the consequences were severe for all…

 Hear instruction and be wise,and do not neglect it. 

Blessed is the one who listens to me,watching daily at my gates,waiting beside my doors. 

For whoever finds me finds life and obtains favor from the Lord,

Prov.8.33-35

Thank YOU….

 He had 700 wives, who were princesses, and 300 concubines. And his wives turned away his heart. For when Solomon was old his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not wholly true to the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father.

1Kgs.11.3-4

 Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable.

1Cor.9.25

 Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. 

Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. 

But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. 

Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. 

Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. 

But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. 

This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. 

For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. 

But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. 

And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

Jas.1.12-15, Jas.3.13-18

 Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful.

1Cor.4.2

 For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world.

1John.2.16

Psalm 59 in song…

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ghnG6GtUhBg&pp=ygUNcHNhbG0gNTkgc29uZw%3D%3D

Teach us to pray…

 Teach us to pray…

Solomon’s prayer, prayed at the dedication of the Temple…

 “Blessed be the Lord, who has given rest to His people Israel, in accordance with everything that He promised. Not one word has failed of all His good promise, which He spoke through Moses His servant.  May the Lord our God be with us as He was with our fathers; may He not leave us nor abandon us [to our enemies],  that He may guide our hearts to Himself, to walk in all His ways [following Him] and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His precepts which He commanded our fathers.  Let these words of mine, with which I have made supplication before the Lord, be near to the Lord our God day and night, so that He will maintain the cause and right of His servant and of His people Israel as each day requires,  so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the Lord is God; there is no one else.  Therefore, your hearts are to be wholly devoted to the Lord our God, to walk in His statutes and to keep His commandments, as [you are doing] today.”

1Kgs.8.56-61AMP

God’s presence

Desire to do God’s will..

Help with daily needs

Obey

Spread the Word to the world…Bible Study notes…

Jesus’ prayer for the disciples…

 It happened that while Jesus was praying in a certain place, after He finished, one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray just as John also taught his disciples.”  

He said to them,“When you pray, say:‘Father, hallowed be Your name.

Your kingdom come. ‘Give us each day our daily bread. ‘

And forgive us our sins,

For we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us [who has offended or wronged us].

And lead us not into temptation [but rescue us from evil].’”

Luke.11.1-4AMP

Jesus’ prayer of the great Commission…

 Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. 

And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. 

And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Matt.28.16-2

 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.Heb.13.8

I love the similarities…over time…God wants the same for us as he did for  the Israelites so long ago…

Thank YOU…

Jesus loves me…

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KXrC_uzsnsg&pp=ygU0amVzdXMgbG92ZXMgbWUgdGhpcyBpIGtub3cgZm9yIHRoZSBiaWJsZSB0ZWxscyBtZSBzbw%3D%3D

Nothing can contain YOU…

 Nothing can contain YOU….

“ is t it amazing that, though the heavens can’t contain God, he is willing to live in the hearts of those who love him? The God  of the universe takes up,residence in His people…” Bible notes…

God had given a certain set of rules concerning the moving and transportation of the temple furnishings…

 “After Aaron and his sons have finished covering the holy furnishings and all the holy articles, and when the camp is ready to move, only then are the Kohathites to come and do the carrying. But they must not touch the holy things or they will die. The Kohathites are to carry those things that are in the tent of meeting.

Num.4.15

David, in his exuberance,  wanted to get the ark to a place in his city, but didn’t follow those rules and there were dire consequences…God is serious about obedience….

 He and all his men went to Baalah in Judah to bring up from there the ark of God, which is called by the Name, the name of the Lord Almighty, who is enthroned between the cherubim on the ark. They set the ark of God on a new cart and brought it from the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill. 

Uzzah and Ahio, sons of Abinadab, were guiding the new cart with the ark of God on it, and Ahio was walking in front of it. 

David and all Israel were celebrating with all their might before the Lord, with castanets, harps, lyres, timbrels, sistrums and cymbals. 

When they came to the threshing floor of Nakon, Uzzah reached out and took hold of the ark of God, because the oxen stumbled. 

The Lord’s anger burned against Uzzah because of his irreverent act; therefore God struck him down, and he died there beside the ark of God. 

Then David was angry because the Lord’s wrath had broken out against Uzzah, and to this day that place is called Perez Uzzah. David was afraid of the Lord that day and said, “How can the ark of the Lord ever come to me?” 

He was not willing to take the ark of the Lord to be with him in the City of David. Instead, he took it to the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite. 

The ark of the Lord remained in the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite for three months, and the Lord blessed him and his entire household. 

They brought the ark of the Lord and set it in its place inside the tent that David had pitched for it, and David sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings before the Lord.

2 Sam.6.2-11, 17

 But Samuel replied:“Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrificesas much as in obeying the Lord?To obey is better than sacrifice,and to heed is better than the fat of rams.

1Sam.15.22

Solomon obeyed and was able to give ark its new home…

 When all the elders of Israel had arrived, the priests took up the ark, and they brought up the ark of the Lord and the tent of meeting and all the sacred furnishings in it. 

The priests and Levites carried them up, and King Solomon and the entire assembly of Israel that had gathered about him were before the ark, sacrificing so many sheep and cattle that they could not be recorded or counted. 

The priests then brought the ark of the Lord’s covenant to its place in the inner sanctuary of the temple, the Most Holy Place, and put it beneath the wings of the cherubim. 

The cherubim spread their wings over the place of the ark and overshadowed the ark and its carrying poles. These poles were so long that their ends could be seen from the Holy Place in front of the inner sanctuary, but not from outside the Holy Place; and they are still there today. There was nothing in the ark except the two stone tablets that Moses had placed in it at Horeb, where the Lord made a covenant with the Israelites after they came out of Egypt. When the priests withdrew from the Holy Place, the cloud filled the temple of the Lord. And the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled his temple. I have provided a place there for the ark, in which is the covenant of the Lord that he made with our ancestors when he brought them out of Egypt.” and said:“Lord, the God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven above or on earth below—you who keep your covenant of love with your servants who continue wholeheartedly in your way. You have kept your promise to your servant David my father; with your mouth you have promised and with your hand you have fulfilled it—as it is today. “

But will God really dwell on earth? The heavens, even the highest heaven, cannot contain you. How much less this temple I have built! 

May your eyes be open toward this temple night and day, this place of which you said, ‘My Name shall be there,’ so that you will hear the prayer your servant prays toward this place. 

Hear the supplication of your servant and of your people Israel when they pray toward this place. 

Hear from heaven, your dwelling place, and when you hear, forgive.

1Kings8.8.3-118.11,21,.8.23,1Kgs.8.24,1Kgs.8.27,1Kgs.8.29-30

 Trust in the Lord with all your heart-and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him,and he will make your paths straight.

Prov.3.5-6

Lord, you are…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3e2uTyQljo

I had this written yesterday and didn’t publish it and then we talked about the same thing in our Sunday School class…I love it when God weaves lessons together…

https://gracethrufaith.com/ask-a-bible-teacher/moving-the-ark-of-the-covenant/

https://www.crosswalk.com/faith/bible-study/things-you-may-not-know-about-the-ark-of-the-covenant.html

During the night…

 During the night…

Over the years, I have been awakened by ideas, some great and ones not so great…some worth carrying out and others not so much…

I know there are books and books about dreams and their meanings, and have known people who are really into that…I also know that God uses various means of getting our attention and works with us individually…

All through the Word, God has spoken to people during the night watches…I wonder if He can get their undivided attention during those  times…times of rest and quiet…when we are not dong our daily routines or surrounded by busyness…I imagine He was interested in their heart attitude than the time of day…

He came to Joseph, Jacob, Gideon, Daniel, Joseph, Nehemiah, Samuel, and others as well as Solomon…

 At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon during the night in a dream, and God said, “Ask for whatever you want me to give you.” Solomon answered, “You have shown great kindness to your servant, my father David, because he was faithful to you and righteous and upright in heart. 

You have continued this great kindness to him and have given him a son to sit on his throne this very day. 

“Now, Lord my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David. But I am only a little child and do not know how to carry out my duties. Your servant is here among the people you have chosen, a great people, too numerous to count or number. So give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong. 

For who is able to govern this great people of yours?” 

The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for this. 

So God said to him, “Since you have asked for this and not for long life or wealth for yourself, nor have asked for the death of your enemies but for discernment in administering justice, I will do what you have asked. I will give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there will never have been anyone like you, nor will there ever be. Moreover, I will give you what you have not asked for—both wealth and honor—so that in your lifetime you will have no equal among kings. And if you walk in obedience to me and keep my decrees and commands as David your father did, I will give you a long life.” 

Then Solomon awoke—and he realized it had been a dream.He returned to Jerusalem, stood before the ark of the Lord’s covenant and sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. 

Then he gave a feast for all his court.

1Kgs.3:5-15

Solomon asked aright…as we can…

 This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.

1John.5.14-15

Again the verse from Matthew 6…

 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Matt.6.33-34

From his night watch conversation, Solomon sought wisdom to lead the people rather than riches…

He wrote about wisdom many times in the book of Proverbs… 

My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding— indeed, if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the Lordand find the knowledge of God. 

For the Lord gives wisdom;from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. 

For wisdom will enter your heart,and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul. 

Discretion will protect you,and understanding will guard you. Wisdom will save you from the ways of wicked men,from men whose words are perverse, 

Wisdom will save you also from the adulterous woman,from the wayward woman with her seductive words, 

Thus you will walk in the ways of the good and keep to the paths of the righteous. 

For the upright will live in the land,and the blameless will remain in it; but the wicked will be cut off from the land,and the unfaithful will be torn from it.

Prov.2.1-6,Prov.2.10-12,Prov.2.16,Prov.2.20-22

James wrote …

 If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.

Jas.1

We may talk to God any hour, any minute…He is there anytime, anyplace for us…seeking His wisdom which He gives generously…

Thank YOU…

Songs of wisdom…the God of the impossible…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oY8nJ4KNRPkn

Passing the baton…David+

 Passing the baton…David+

I just thought these passages went together…those last words…encouragement…

 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

Matt.6.33

 When the time drew near for David to die, he gave a charge to Solomon his son. “I am about to go the way of all the earth,” he said. “So be strong, act like a man, and observe what the Lord your God requires: Walk in obedience to him, and keep his decrees and commands, his laws and regulations, as written in the Law of Moses. Do this so that you may prosper in all you do and wherever you go and that the Lord may keep his promise to me: ‘If your descendants watch how they live, and if they walk faithfully before me with all their heart and soul, you will never fail to have a successor on the throne of Israel.

1Kgs.2.1-4

 It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. 

Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. 

When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.

John.13.1, 12-17

Thank YOU…

Seek ye first…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsBpM9IcBts

Costly sacrifice…the Lord provides…

  Costly sacrifice….the Lord provides…

Our society thinks in microwave time…while God thinks in centuries, generations…infinite…eternity….

Decisions we make now do effect our eternity…

Thank YOU….

Reading about David and his desire to stay the plague upon his people, he built an alter on a place which has been designated the spot where Abraham  brought his son Isaac for sacrifice, saying that the Lord would Provide…

David offered a sacrifice for his people…

Later, David’s son, would build a Temple upon this spot, with materials gathered by his father…sacrifices would again be offered….

This temple would later be destroyed in battle…

This  is still the holiest place in Judaism…

“The Western Wall (sometimes called the Wailing Wall, or the Kotel, the Hebrew word for wall) is one of the last remaining walls of the Temple Mount, the elevated plaza in the Old City of Jerusalem that was the site of both ancient Jewish temples. It is the holiest site in Judaism and a place of pilgrimage and prayer.”

https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/what-is-the-western-wall

 On that day Gad went to David and said to him, “Go up and build an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.” 

So David went up, as the Lord had commanded through Gad.When Araunah looked and saw the king and his officials coming toward him, he went out and bowed down before the king with his face to the ground. 

Araunah said, “Why has my lord the king come to his servant?”“To buy your threshing floor,” David answered, “so I can build an altar to the Lord, that the plague on the people may be stopped.” 

Araunah said to David, “Let my lord the king take whatever he wishes and offer it up. Here are oxen for the burnt offering, and here are threshing sledges and ox yokes for the wood. Your Majesty, Araunah gives all this to the king.” 

Araunah also said to him, “May the Lord your God accept you.” 

But the king replied to Araunah, “No, I insist on paying you for it. I will not sacrifice to the Lord my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing.”

So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen and paid fifty shekels of silver for them. David built an altar to the Lord there and sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. 

Then the Lord answered his prayer in behalf of the land, and the plague on Israel was stopped.

2Sam.24-25

 Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.” 

Early the next morning Abraham got up and loaded his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. 

On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. 

He said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.” Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. 

As the two of them went on together, Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?”“Yes, my son?” 

Abraham replied.“The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” 

Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” 

And the two of them went on together. When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. 

He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. 

But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!”“Here I am,” he replied. “Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.” 

Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. 

So Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.” 

The angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time and said, “I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. 

Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.”

Gen.22.2-18

 Then Solomon began to build the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the Lord had appeared to his father David. It was on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite, the place provided by David. 

He began building on the second day of the second month in the fourth year of his reign.

2Chr.3.1-2

 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Rom.12.1-2

Living sacrifice…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUWiWzK0P24