Wednesday Night Service 7PM - 1 Chronicles 23-29, The Conclusion of David, Pastor Ryan

Good evening. How are y'all doing? You gonna praise the Lord this evening? Why don't you all stand and I'll open us in a word of prayer.

Dear Heavenly Father, I just thank you for giving us one more day. God, thank you for giving us one more day on this earth where we can walk with you. God, I just pray that you just let us seize this opportunity just to grow deeper in our relationship with you. I pray that as we're singing, God, that it would be from our hearts and that this would just be a sweet sound to you tonight.

Just a prayer from us to you. I just pray this in your name.

Bless the Lord, O my soul. O my soul. Worship his holy name. Sing like never before. O worship your holy name. It's anew your soul.

And whatever lies before may be singing when the e-worship his whole.

Sing like there's a thousand reasons for my heart.

The end draws near and my time has come. Still then for a worship his whole.

I'm gonna have a seat for these next two. Wrestling and in my, in my failures you won't. Walk out, your great love will lead. My troubled sea, oh, you are the peace in my troubled sea. Lent you won't let, lends your truth will. Peace in my troubled, place to be. Death was arrested, ash was redeemed, only given a name. Through quiet my feet washes o, he faithfully washes o.

We get a fresh. Start what we've done. God, we can start over with you. You can change us from the inside out and lead us in the way and the good works that you've made for us from before the foundations of the earth, God. Just pray that you would help us to walk in those ways. Lord, I just pray as Ryan comes and gives your word that you would speak mightily through

him in your name. Good evening. If you would open up in your Bibles to the book of 1 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians 23. We're going to cover some serious territory tonight because, quite frankly, this is an incredibly boring section of Scripture. I'm just going to be honest with you about that. I would love to liven it up and be like, you know, if we really look deeply, there's

not much here, okay? I'm going to do the best I can with it. It's just all that there is to it. Some parts of the Bible are like that. It ain't all sunshine and roses. So, I've essentially titled tonight, which, by the way, we're covering, as you can see, chapters 23 through 29. When I said serious territory, I meant all of it. So, I've essentially titled tonight, which, by the way, we're covering, as you can see,

chapters 23 through 29. When I said serious territory, I meant all of it. Just so you know, Chuck Smith, when he does his through the Bible thing, covers way more territory than I could have ever thought about covering. He actually covers chapters 20 through 29 in one hour and a half sitting, so it is what it is. All right, so, this is the first part of today's episode.

We're going to cover some serious territory. There's not much here, okay? I'm going to do the best I can with it. It's just all that there is to it. Some parts of the Bible are like that. It ain't all sunshine and roses. So, I've essentially titled tonight, which, by the way, we're covering, as you can see, chapters 23 through 29. When I said serious territory, I meant serious territory.

Just so you know, Chuck Smith, when he does his through the Bible thing, covers way more territory. Just so you know, Chuck Smith, when he does his through the Bible thing, covers way more territory than I could have ever thought about covering. He actually covers chapters 20 through 29 in one hour and a half sitting. So it is what it is. So I've entitled tonight, The Conclusion

of David, because ultimately, this is really the last time we look at the rule and reign of David. It's the end of his life. And we've seen high points and we've seen low points. But when we were together last time, we saw him begin the process of gathering everything for the building of the temple. And so chapters 23 through 27, and I will hit a little bit on each one of

those, are essentially the organization of the Levites. He's going to take that priestly tribe and he's going to use his gift of administration and sort of get everyone prepared for what will be the ministry of this new temple. Everything's going to be a little bit different with the temple and he wants his son to be prepared and he wants the Levites to be prepared. So that's what he's going to do in these chapters. So we'll talk just a little bit about each one of

them. And then I really want to hone in on chapters 28 and 29 because there is a lot of really good stuff in there. So it says this in chapter 23, verse 1. It says,

Now I just want to make a couple of quick comments and I promise we're going to move pretty fast through this. First of all, it's important to have both administration and organization. Especially for a nation the size of Israel. It would be wonderful to just say, well, we're just going to be led by the Holy Spirit. We're just going to kind of let things fall where they are

and just let go and let God. But at the end of the day, that's actually not a very spiritual way to handle things. It's not very spiritual to just say, well, we don't really need organization. We don't really need training. We don't really need leaders. We're just going to kind of let the Holy Spirit lead because that's actually not biblical at all to do that. And we see that not only here, but we've

seen it really throughout the scripture up to this point in time. And so David uses the gift of administration to lay out an order for the way that not only his government is going to be, because that's what he covers in one of the chapters, but also for the way that the Levites are to carry things out. Second thing that I want to point out is this. It is so important that once that administration is made, that everyone plays their part. You'll notice that of all of these

Levites, everyone had a job and everyone had to do their job. And I think that there's two problems that you have when you begin to administer. Or use that gift of administration. Either one, someone wants to do someone else's job, or two, they don't want to do any job. Those are usually the two main issues you run into. If everybody could just be like, well, this is my job, and I'm going to do my job, and I'm going to do my job well,

then everything would really flow really smoothly. But the problem is one person is given a job and they go, I don't really like that job. I want to do his job. And so I'm going to try to do my job, and I'm going to try to do his job, and I'm not going to do either one of them very well because I want to do what I want to do. And there's usually a problem when that happens.

Everybody has to play their part. Everybody has to find the role that they have and play that part. It was true in the nation of Israel, and it's true in the body of Christ. In the body of Christ, everybody has a different part that they play. But listen, everybody has a part that they play. And the ears can't say, well, I'm of no use because I can't do the seeing. The eyes can't say,

I'm of no use because I can't do the smelling. Every part has their job, and every part is necessary within the body of Christ. That's where the administration within the body of Christ comes into play, is everybody being sensitive to the Spirit, what the Lord wants them to do. The third thing that I want to point out is this. There was a heavy emphasis on the importance of

worship within the nation of Israel. Did you notice how many worship leaders they had? Four thousand of them. And in the first two chapters, if not three chapters that we cover tonight, worship will be a part of that. It will be some form of what gives us the power to do the right thing. And worship really is an important part within the body of Christ. It's so important

because worship is our response to what God has done for us. And there is something very spiritual about it. As a matter of fact, in one of the chapters that we'll get to in just a moment, he refers to the Levites that would prophesy through the playing of scriptures, that they would speak forth the word of God through the playing or through the playing of different instruments. And so if you look at the letter book of the New Testament, it says, So it's interesting to see the part that worship plays within the nation of Israel, and it's also true within the body of Christ.

So chapter 23, he gives kind of an overview of what all of the jobs of the Levites are going to be. And if you want some really fascinating reading, you should go back and read this later because it is kind of interesting to see what everybody has to do. The one thing that I'm going to point out to you is that starting in verse 24, there's some what we'll call revised duties of some of the Levites. There was one particular group of Levites whose main job was to carry the parts of the tabernacle.

Some of them were to tear them down. Some of them were to set them up. Some of them were to be carriers of it. But it's going to tell us right here in verse 24, it says this. Now these were the sons of Levi according to their father's households, even the heads of the father's households of those of them who were counted in the number of the names, doing the work for the service of the house of the Lord.

For David said, The Lord God of Israel has given rest to his people. And he dwells in Jerusalem forever. The Levites will no longer need to carry the tabernacle and all its utensils for service. Now if that was your job, if you were like, Man, my part that I play within the Levitical priesthood, my part that I play for the nation of Israel is I carry the tabernacle, only we've just built a permanent temple.

What am I going to do now? What is my job now that my job has basically been removed? Well, I want you to notice down in verse 30, what he says. They are to stand every morning to thank and to praise the Lord likewise at evening and to offer all burnt offerings to the Lord on the Sabbaths, the new moons, the fixed festivals, the number set by the ordinance concerning them continually before the Lord.

Thus they are to keep charge of the tent of meeting and charge of the holy place, charge of the sons of Aaron, their relatives, for the service of the house of the Lord. Their job looked different. But they still had a job. It was still to praise the Lord. It was still to minister to the Lord. And it was still to minister to the priesthood just like they'd done before.

It was just going to look a little bit different now. Now I want to speak a word to those of you who feel like the job that you've always had in ministry looks different than it used to. Maybe something has changed in you. God has removed you from a certain part of ministry and he's moving you into something else. And you can find yourself going, So what do I do now?

Am I just useless? Am I just useless as far as being used by God? And the answer is absolutely no. You are always useful to the Lord. Your job may look different. You may need to seek God for what that looks like. But God still wants to use you powerfully to be one who praises the Lord, leads others in the praise of the Lord, ministers within the church, and ministers to those who minister to the church.

There's always something that is to be done within the body of Christ. And so there's a little bit of a change where that goes. But, But that chapter, chapter 23, is just the overview of the organization of the Levites. Chapter 24 is the division of the Levites. It literally divides them out into 24 different groups. And from chapter 24 is where each of those groups now has their part that they play

within the nation of Israel. And each of them was to serve for a certain point of time. If you divide up all of the groups, you will find that each individual, who is a member of the Levitical tribe, would serve for about two weeks out of the year. That was as it laid out. That was how it worked out. That division, that organization that he sets up in the book of 1 Chronicles,

is carried all the way through to the New Testament. Because if we go all the way into the book of Luke, chapter 1, you will find that Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist, was one of these Levitical priesthood, was a part of the church. He was part of the tribe of the Levitical priesthood. And he was serving for his two-week time period when God gave him the announcement of the birth of John the Baptist.

So this organization that David set up was so good that it carried on for hundreds of years and was even reinstituted after they come back together. So kind of an interesting little tidbit of information there for you. So that's chapter 24. In chapter 25, we see the organization of the musicians. And I want to point out one thing to you. This is chapter 25, verse 1.

It says, Moreover David and the commanders of the army set apart for the service some of the sons of Asaph and Heman and Jethethun, who were to prophesy with lyres, harps, and cymbals, and the number of those who performed their service was, and it goes on to list all of those who would be a part of this group who would minister to the Lord through song. Now I find two things interesting about this. Did you notice who helped David with the organization of the musicians? It was the commanders of the army.

Now I found that to be kind of fascinating. I don't know that anybody gave me a particularly good answer on that of the different scholars that I read, other than David very much respected his military leaders, and he probably should because they were some pretty tough dudes. But what I got to thinking was, how many times do you read that the ones that went ahead of the army in battle was the worshipers? And so I find it kind of interesting that worship is warfare, right?

Like I follow this brand, and it's called Worship is Warfare, and at first when I saw it I was like, that's kind of a cheesy name. But the more I read things like this, the more I realize that kind of is what goes on. Like worship really is warfare, because sometimes that's where we fight the real battles. Sometimes that's where we fight the battles that can't be fought any other way.

I watched a very interesting interview with a Christian psychologist who said that when you are feeling the most depression and anxiety, singing scripture is not always the best thing for you. And of course I went, now wait a second. He said singing scripture is the best thing for you. And I thought, now that I can get behind. Because it bypasses the way that you think

and gets directly into your heart. Because that's what singing has a tendency to do. It bypasses that cognitive part of the brain that can't process properly because of the anxiety or the depression that you're feeling, and it gets down to the emotional level where you truly need that peace of God. And I find it kind of interesting because truly worship is warfare.

But the next thing that I find interesting is what he tells these worshipers that they are to do. They are to prophesy with these different musical instruments. There's another place where he's going to say that there's even some musical instruments that David made himself. And they're to use those in the worship. And I find it interesting that part of their job,

part of the job of the Levites was to prophesy through song. And they don't know that we always think of it that way. Matter of fact, much of the worship music that comes out today is probably the farthest thing from prophesy we could probably imagine, right? But really the idea of prophesy, especially in this instance, is really just the speaking forth of the Word of God.

It reminds me of that New Testament scripture. I think it's in 1 Timothy where he says, Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. Singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord. My dad actually, I don't know if he was the one that put that to music or if it was someone else, but he used to sing that song all the time.

And I find it interesting that ultimately that's really what worship is supposed to be. It's speaking forth of the truth of the Word of God. Speaking forth the truth of the character and the nature of God. Music is powerful. God uses it in powerful ways. And so, as you can see once you hit verse 8, it's incredibly fascinating to read every single name. And you should do that later.

Now, when we get to chapter 26, it says this, For the divisions of the gatekeepers, there were the Korahites, Mesh, that guy, and the son of Korah, and the sons of Asaph. The divisions of the gatekeepers. These are the ushers. Okay? These are the ushers of the temple at this point in time. And there was to be this division of these gatekeepers. Their job was both the physical security of the temple

and the spiritual security of the temple. Physical security of the temple because they were to make sure that everybody that came into the temple was allowed to be in the temple. That no foreigners, no Gentiles, none of those kind of people came into the temple. And that ultimately there was no trouble that was caused to the temple. You actually see that at different places throughout the Old Testament.

But not only that, they were to care for the spiritual well-being of the temple. As a matter of fact, if you remember, there was a king in the temple. And it was, I believe, Uzziah, who went into the temple to offer incense to the Lord, even though it wasn't his job as king. And who were the ones who said, you can't do this? It was the gatekeepers. They were caring for the spiritual well-being of the temple.

And as caring for the spiritual well-being of the temple, they said, you are not spiritually prepared, nor are you the right person to do this. Our job, I don't care if you're the king, is to make sure that only godly things go on in this place. These were the gatekeepers. Now I thought about this from two different aspects today. Number one, I did think about the fact that we have these wonderful ushers.

And I don't know if you ever take time to do this, you should. The ushers that show up here to do work, I just need you to know this, they get here on a Sunday morning about 7.30 or 8 in the morning. They're one of the first groups of people here after I get here. And they make all the coffee, they get all the things ready, make sure that lights are turned on and all that kind of stuff.

And they're some of the last ones that leave on a Sunday morning. When you walk by those ushers, you should make sure to tell them thank you. Because they care for the physical well-being of you and this building. They are also our security team, and I trust them immensely. One time we had an issue here where a guy showed up and he was incredibly sketchy. The entire church felt it.

This was early on, like when I took over about seven years ago. And so this guy comes in, and this is when we still had a sound booth, sitting right back there. And I would sit in the one lone chair next to the sound booth. And I remember one of the ushers came to me and he said, hey, this guy looks pretty funky. He has a bag. We can't tell what's in his bag.

You just need to be aware of him, and we don't really know what's going on with him. And so another guy happened to come in. I said, I need you to go sit behind that guy right there. And so one of the other ushers went and sat behind that guy right there. And I got up, and I knew the guy was sketchy because he amens the announcements. Listen, I think I make some pretty good points.

None of them are in the announcements, okay? Like there's women's breakfast coming up. Amen. Like no, that's probably not the time, right? So we all sit down after greeting time. Everybody sits down, and he stands up, and he looks around, and we all just stopped and watched him. And he walked, and we didn't have curtains up on these windows just yet. And he walks out, and he walks out, and every usher in this room stood up

and followed that guy out. And I'm not joking. They followed him down the street and made sure he kept going. And I was like, that's my boys right there. Those are my gatekeepers, right? Because that's the way it was supposed to work out. But not only that, they care for the spiritual well-being of things, right? They are attuned to the spiritual needs that are going on,

looking for people to pray for. And you should thank those ushers and say, you do a lot of work, and I appreciate you. So that's my little plug for the usher ministry. And if you would like to get involved in the usher ministry, you can go see Jean Festy right afterwards. Okay, but the other end that I thought of is that each of us individually, both within our homes and in our hearts, are gatekeepers, right?

Each of us as parents are gatekeepers for our families. We are gatekeepers for their physical protection, and we are gatekeepers for their spiritual protection. And that's part of our role, especially as men, is to be the gatekeepers of our home, to be the gatekeepers that make sure that physically our families are taken care of, but to be the gatekeepers who spiritually make sure that our families are taken care of, and to spiritually protect them. And that's a role that we should take very seriously.

But to an even greater degree, each of us is the temple of the Holy Spirit. That's what the Bible tells us that you are. You are the temple of the Holy Spirit. And you need to be your own gatekeeper to make sure that spiritually you are protected from the things that come in, to make sure that you are spiritually being aware of the things that you are taking in, to know that those are not causing you spiritual damage.

Because the things that you take in your eyes, the things that you take in your ears, and the things that you allow to marinate in your brain, they change who we are. And if those things are not good, then they will end up causing us problems in the future. And so each of us is a gatekeeper of the temple of our own hearts. And so he goes on from there. Chapter, where were we?

The organization and division that gave it. Chapter 27. In chapter 27, he lays out the political and military structure of the nation. I got nothing for you on that. That's all that it is. That's chapter 27. You should go back and look at it. Chapter 28. Now is where we are going to lock in. In chapter 28, we get to David's temple address. Notice what he says.

Chapter 28, verse 1, 1 Chronicles. David assembled at Jerusalem all the officials of Israel, the princes of the tribes and the commanders of divisions that served the king, the commanders of thousands, the commanders of hundreds, and overseers of all the property and livestock belonging to the king and his sons, with the officials and the mighty men, even all the valiant men. And King David arose to his feet and said, Listen to me, my brethren and my people. I had intended to build a permanent home for the ark of the covenant of the Lord, for the footstool of our God.

So I made preparations to build it. But God said to me, You shall not build a house for my name, because you are a man of war, and you shed blood. Yet the Lord God of Israel chose me from all the house of my father to be king over Israel forever. He has chosen Judah to be a leader in the house of Judah, my father's house. Among the sons of my father he took pleasure in me to make me king over all Israel.

Of all my sons, for the Lord has given me many sons, he has chosen Solomon to sit on the throne of the kingdom of the Lord over Israel. He said to me, Your son Solomon is the one who shall build a house for my courts. For I have chosen him to be a son to me, and I will be a father to him. And I will establish his kingdom forever if he resolutely performs my commandments and my ordinances as is done.

Alright, I want you to paint, this is a grand picture, okay? I want you to paint this picture in your mind. David's very old by this point in time. He's fought many wars. He's a gnarled old warrior. He's nearing the end of his life. And he's done everything he can to make all the preparations for the temple. And so he calls everyone together. Did you notice all the groups that he wanted to amass?

The landowners, the commanders, the elders, all of the important people within the nation. He literally calls for like a state of the nation address. And I just love the verbiage that's used there in this chapter when it says, David stood to his feet. I think there's a reason why the writer of 1 Chronicles took time to say that David stood to his feet. Because I think David was very old at this point in time and that was a hard thing for him to do.

I think the toll that those wars had taken on his body, the toll that life had taken on his body probably made it very hard for him to stand. But in this instance it was so important that David stood to his feet because he needed to be the leader this one last time. He needed to be the commander in chief this one last time. And quite frankly, he needed to be the sweet psalmist of Israel this one last time.

And so he stands to his feet and he says, I wanted to build a place for God. I wanted to build a place for the ark of the covenant. And so I made the preparations. And can I just say, what a cool place to be in your life. Where you say, God gave me a vision to do something. And so I made the preparations for it. Even if he wasn't the one that was going to do it.

He was still going to make the preparations. Listen, preparing ourselves and preparing our life for what we feel like God is calling us to do is so important. You're either in one of two places in life. You are either preparing for what God has for you or you are living out what God has for you. But you should never be stagnant in the things that you're doing.

If you don't know what God has for you yet, then it's time to prepare for it. Then you need to start making the preparations for it. What does that look like? Well, you better be in the word. You better be in prayer. You better be seeking the Lord. You better be learning as much as you can. You better be pouring into your relationship and the relationships of the people around you as much as you can.

Serve God where you know how to so that you can prepare for what God has for you. And so he says, I knew this is what I wanted to do so I made the preparations for it. But, but God said, David, this one is not for you. You're a man of war. And the temple is going to be a place of rest. Do you notice the theme of rest here? Right, like David said that God had given the nation of Israel rest and so there would be this temple.

And he couldn't be the man who built the temple because he was a man of war and Solomon would be a man of rest. It's kind of interesting because Moses, who represented the law, couldn't lead the children of Israel into the promised land. Joshua had to do that because the law could never inherit the promise. The law could never inherit the place of rest. Only Joshua.

Yahweh is salvation. Could do that. And in this same way, David, the man of war, could not be the one who built the place of rest. Only Solomon could do that, the man of rest. And so he says, I was not the one to do it. But praise God he blessed me with a son. He gave me many sons. But this particular one, he was going to be the one who would build the temple.

And God made this amazing promise to me. This amazing promise that there would always be one of my descendants on the throne. That my line would last forever because God is such a God of mercy. And so this is what he has to say. The first thing he does is he gives instructions to the leaders. It's short. Notice what he says. Verse 8. So now on the side 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 bequeath it to your sons after you forever. Now he's speaking to the general assembly. All of the leaders. All of the ones who would be there to support the work of Solomon. All of the ones who would be there to support the building of the temple. All of the ones who would be the advisors to Solomon. The ones who would support this young man. And in just a few minutes he's going to say, Solomon's still really young.

And he's really inexperienced. And he really needs you guys to come alongside him. And that's what they were to be for him. See, that's the important thing of leadership within an organization. And it's the important thing of leadership within a church. Is one man can't do everything. That one man needs to be surrounded by a group of people who will support the vision that God has given.

He says, that's what you guys need to do. And the best way to support it is to seek after the Lord. To observe all of his commandments. In other words. Live a godly life. Make sure that the nation lives a godly life. You know why? Because obedience is the protection of the believer. Obedience is the safest place for any believer to be. I've shared this lots of times before.

But there's a great guy who runs an organization called Far Reaching Ministries. We usually have his magazines out there. His name is Wes Bentley. And as I've shared before, Wes Bentley is a man among men. Because he was an old warrior, mercenary soldier for a long time. And then he started going into the places where nobody else goes. After he got saved, he started training up chaplains for resistance armies in Africa.

He now goes into places like Syria. When everybody else runs out, he runs in. And one statement that he made from a time that I heard him teach. And I heard him speak this years ago. And this has rung in my brain ever since. He said, obedience is the safety net of the believer. Obedience is the safety net of the believer. Because if you obey God, then one of two things is going to happen.

Either one, God will preserve you from all trouble. Or God will sustain you through all trouble. Either way, obedience is the safety net of the believer. And that's exactly what he tells these leaders. He said, listen. If you want to be successful. If you want to see this nation be successful. Then you need to be obedient. Because that's what obedience is. It's that safety net of the nation of Israel.

And it's the safety net of the believer. But then he gets to his son. And this is where he really goes into detail. Notice what he says in verse 9. I love this. And it's particularly important to me right now to read this. But this is what he says. He says, as for you, my son Solomon, know the God of your father. Serve him with a whole heart and a willing mind.

For the Lord searches all hearts and he understands every intent of the thoughts. If you seek him, you will find him. Or he will let you find him. But if you forsake him, he will reject you forever. Consider now, for the Lord has chosen you to build a house for the sanctuary. Be courageous and act. He tells them a handful of things. The first thing he tells them is, Solomon, my son, know the Lord God of your fathers.

The New Living Translation translates it, get to know the Lord God of your fathers. That word to know is a very interesting word in the Hebrew. That word to know means to know by observation and experience. To know by observation and experience. I thought that was kind of interesting that that's what that word means. Because sometimes we can't get to know something by experience until we get to know it by observation.

Right? It's kind of like driving a car. You start off by sitting behind the wheel. And I remember sitting behind the wheel for the first time. Of course, my mom had to teach me how to drive. My dad would have taught me how to drive but explained my driving a little bit better. But my mom taught me. And so she sat me behind the wheel and I just observed. And she pointed things out to me.

And she said, that's the steering wheel. That makes sense. So far, so good. And she goes, and that's the perndal. Park, reverse, neutral, drive, low. That's the perndal right there. That's not really the name for it but that's what I tell my daughters too. So anyway, it's pretty funny. That one on the left is the brake. That's the most important one. That one on the right, that's the gas.

Not nearly as important as the brake. And so I observed everything that went on. And I would watch her drive and watch other people drive. And there was an observation. But eventually, the observation had to turn into experience. Because there's only so much you can learn by watching. There's only so much you can learn by observing. Eventually, you have to learn it by experience.

Eventually, you just have to do it. You have to take that step of faith. And you know, a few times in the car, I remember the first time I took my oldest daughter driving and she drove us into a ditch. And I was laughing. And she was a little bit freaked out. Luckily, it was my old pickup truck and I didn't care what happened to it. And quite frankly, if something happened to it, I'd be like, well, that was 20 years that it had come into it.

Right? So drives us into a ditch, kind of freaked out. So I jump into the driver's seat, get us out of the ditch. And I'm like, okay, now keep it straight. And so she did because she learned by experience. That's what David tells Solomon he needs to do. You need to get to know God. Get to know Him first by observation. Get to know Him through what's written about Him and what I've told you about Him,

what other people have to tell you about Him. But eventually, you have to get to know Him by what you know about Him. We call those steps of faith. Steps of faith are the only way that you can get to know God. Taking steps of faith of getting into God's Word for yourself. Taking steps of faith by praying big prayers that you want to see God answer. Taking steps of faith by asking others for help.

Taking steps of faith by jumping into things that you know are too hard for you because God called you to do it. But you're going to do it anyway, even though it's hard. And as you do so, it's amazing what God is able to do for you. He says, get to know the Lord God of your fathers, not only by observation, but by experience. And I love that that's the first thing that he tells them.

Because if you're not right there, you'll never be right in heaven. You'll never be right anywhere else. The second thing that he tells them is this. He says, not only get to know the Lord God of your father, but serve Him with a whole heart and a willing mind. Serve Him with a whole heart and a willing mind. In other words, complete, wholehearted devotion to the Lord.

There's a theme that runs throughout Scripture. And that theme that runs throughout Scripture is the necessity of wholehearted service to the Lord. It can't be just part of you. God makes it very clear in Scripture that if God only has part of you, He doesn't want any of you. As a matter of fact, we're told that in the book of Revelation with the church of Laodicea.

When God said, I'd rather you either be hot or cold, but because you're lukewarm, I have to vomit you out of my mouth. Throughout the Old Testament, God says, stop bringing me your sacrifices unless it's with a whole heart. Because quite frankly, I'm sick of the smell of roasted meat from a heart that's not true towards me. This is all that there is to it. He says, wholehearted service to the Lord and service that is of a willing mind.

Why? Because notice what he says. Because the Lord searches all hearts and He understands every intent of the thoughts. You can fool everybody else in this church by saying that you wholeheartedly follow Jesus. You can fool everybody around you. You can even fool your husband or your wife. But the one person you will never fool is God. God will always see whether or not your heart is truly following Him.

And that's going to be between you and Jesus. That's where you really are in your serving of the Lord. Because the Lord searches the hearts and He knows the intents of the thought. The third thing that He tells them is this. If you seek Him, He will let you find Him. If you seek Him, He will let you find Him. I love this. He says, God rewards those who seek Him.

God rewards those who seek Him. In the book of Jeremiah, chapter 29, verse 13, He's going to say, If you seek Me, this is God speaking through Jeremiah to the nation of Israel as they're in Babylon in captivity. He says, if you seek Me, you will find Me. You search for Me with all your heart. And I will be found of you, declares the Lord. Unless we think this is just an Old Testament idea,

you were to jump all the way into the book of James, chapter 29. In chapter 4, verse 8, it'll say, If you draw near to God, He will draw near to you. In the book of Hebrews, it's going to say that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. You say, Ryan, I thought God sought me. Well, He did. So I'm supposed to seek Him? You are. How's that work? I have no idea.

Just start chasing after Jesus. Matter of fact, make your life's pursuit chasing after Jesus. Here's a wonderful book. And some of you, I think a Bible study, one of the small groups here did this, went through this book. And probably a lot of you got lost because nobody talks like A.W. Tozer talks anymore. There's a wonderful book called Pursuit of God by A.W. Tozer.

And in that book is a great line. It says, To have found God and to still be looking for Him is the soul's paradox of love. In other words, I have found God through salvation or He found me. It all depends on how you put it. It depends on if you're a fan of Paul Washer or not. But if I have found God, isn't that it? Aren't I done now? No. No, you just started.

Because you just got introduced to the infinite God that it will take all of eternity to understand. That can either terrify you or it can fascinate you. And I remember being about 20 years old and reading that in Bible college and it fascinated me. I thought, you mean to tell me I have just scratched the surface of the infinite God and there's more to learn?

And now 25 years later, I go, you mean I've just scratched the surface of the infinite God and there's still more to learn? It's amazing how that works. If you seek Him, He will let you find Him. But, number four, if you forsake Him, He will reject you. See, God's a gentleman. He will not force you to do anything. And if you decide you want to forsake God, eventually He'll say,

if that's what you want, I'm not going to force you. And He'll give you what you want. See, sometimes when God gives us what we want, it's not for our blessing. It's for our judgment. And he warns Solomon about this. And then he tells him one last thing. He says, consider now for the Lord has chosen you to build a house for the sanctuary. Now be courageous and act.

Be courageous and act. He knows that the job that he's just laid out in front of him is a huge job. And he's going to continue telling him about it. But he says, if you're going to do it, you're going to have to be courageous. Act with courage, but you're going to have to act. Eventually it has to get past the planning stages and you have to put it into action.

So he goes on from there. I'm kind of running out of time here. He goes on from there and he tells him the plans. It says, David said to his son Solomon, the plan of the port, verse 11, the plan of the porch of the temple, its building, its storehouses, its upper rooms, all these different things. Okay, I'll just jump down to verse 19. He tells him all these different things

that he's going to make. And I want you to notice what David says in verse 19. All this, all these plans that he gives him of the temple. Said David, the Lord made me understand in writing by his hand upon me. All the details of this pattern. I love this because David says, everything that I just told you, all the plans that I've laid out, all the preparations that I've made,

God gave those to me. I always think David's as shocked as anybody to say it. Because God gave those to me with his hand upon me. You can just imagine the picture. I don't have a pen with me. Yeah, I do. You can just imagine that David's sitting there trying to draw out everything. And as he's trying to draw it out, he's going, I don't know what I'm supposed to do.

And in that moment, he feels this hand sort of rest upon him. And God sort of takes over. And even though David's the one holding the pen, God's the one doing the writing. Isn't that kind of cool to think that that's how God laid those things out? Do you know that that's essentially what we're told in Scripture? That that's how the Word of God works? That that's how the Word of God was given to us?

No prophecy is given by the will of man. But men of God, as they were moved by the Spirit of God, wrote out God's Word for us. That's what we call the doctrine of the inerrancy of Scripture. Is that God is actually the one that gave them everything that they need. David said, God gave me all of these things with his hand, by writing with his hand upon me. David said to his son Solomon,

verse 20, Now be strong and courageous and act. Do not fear nor be dismayed, for the Lord my God is with you. He will not fail you nor forsake you until all the work of the service of the house of the Lord is finished. Behold, there are divisions of the priests and the Levites for all the service of the house of God. And every willing man of any skill will be with you in all the work

for all kinds of service. And the officials also and all the people will be entirely at your command. David says, God's gonna be with you to do this. And he's not gonna stop until you're done with the work. It goes on from there in verse 29 to talk about his offerings. Again, I'm about out of time here. So he tells them that these are the offerings that I've made for the temple.

And then in response, all of the leaders made great offerings for the temple as well. Then David gives us his prayer over the temple. And this sort of ends this section. Jump down to verse 10. It says, So David blessed the Lord. In the sight of all the assembly. And David said, Blessed are you, O Lord God of Israel, our Father, forever and ever. Yours, O Lord,

is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty. Indeed, everything that is in the heavens and the earth, yours is the dominion, O Lord, and you exalt yourself as head over all. Both riches and honor come from you and you rule over all. And in your hand is all power and might. And it lies in your hand to make great and to strengthen everyone.

Now therefore, our God, we thank you and we praise your glorious name. Who am I? Who are my people? That we should be able to offer as generously as this. For all things come from you and from your hand we have given you. For we're sojourners before you and tenants as all our fathers were. Our days on earth are like a shadow and there's no hope. O Lord, our God,

all this abundance that we have provided to build you a house for your name, it's from your hand and all is yours. Since I know, O my God, that you try the heart and delight in uprightness, I in the integrity of my heart have willingly offered all these things. So now with joy I have seen your people who are present here make this offering willingly to you. O Lord, the God of Abraham and Isaac and Israel, our fathers preserve this forever in the intentions of the heart of your people and direct their heart to you and give to my son Solomon a perfect heart to keep your commandments, your testimonies and your statutes and to do them all and to build the temple for which I have made provision.

David said to all the assembly, now bless the Lord your God and all the assembly bless the Lord, the God of their fathers and bowed low and did homage to the Lord, to the King. Two things I want to point out to you about that prayer. In one of the passages of scripture, I think I skipped it. Oh, it's right at the beginning of 29, it says, this temple is not for man but it is for the Lord.

This temple is not for man, it is for the Lord. And I love how David puts it because he described, and you really should go back and read that, he described all of the offerings that would be made, all of the gold and all of the silver that he provided for and all of the gold and all of the silver and precious stones that his leaders provided. He says, Lord, we give all of this to you but at the end of the day, we can give it to you because you gave it to us. We can give it to you because you gave it to us.

Everything that we have to give was all given to us by you. It reminds me of a really beautiful principle that we have to live by in our lives. You can't give out what you don't have. I don't know that you're probably ever going to fund a brand new temple, but you are definitely going to be used of God. But you cannot be used of God if you don't first of all

have something to give. If you're not taking in from the Lord, you have nothing to give out to anyone else because whether it's the wealth that we use to bless the people around us or the gifts that we use, spiritually speaking, to minister to the people, to the people around us, you can't give out what God has not first given to you. The second thing that I want to point out is this. Solomon was a great man chosen by God, but that did not mean that Solomon didn't need prayer.

And I love that he prays for his son this way. I love the heart of the father for the son when he says, give to my son a perfect heart. That word perfect means whole or complete. A perfect heart to keep your commandments and your testimonies and your statutes. He prays for his son in that moment. So we go on to verse 21 and it says this. On the next day, they made sacrifices to the Lord.

They burnt offerings, a thousand bulls, a thousand rams, and a thousand lambs with their drink offerings and sacrifices in abundance for all Israel. So they ate and they drank that day before the Lord with great gladness. They made Solomon, the son of David, king a second time. And they anointed him as the ruler for the Lord and Zadok as priest. And Solomon said unto him,

and Solomon sat on the throne of the Lord as king instead of his father David. And he prospered and all Israel obeyed him and all the officials, the mighty men and also all the sons of King David pledged allegiance to King Solomon. The Lord highly exalted Solomon in the sight of all Israel and bestowed on him royal majesty which had not been on any king before him in Israel. And David, the son of Jesse, reigned over all Israel.

The period which he reigned over all Israel was 40 years. He reigned in Hebron 7 and in Jerusalem 33. And he died in a ripe old age, full of days, riches and honor. And his son Solomon reigned in his place. And the acts of David from the start to the last are written in the books of Samuel the seer and the chronicles of Nathan the prophet and the chronicles

of Gad the seer. With all his reign, his power, the circumstances which came on him, on Israel and on all the kingdoms of the lands. So we draw a conclusion to the life of David. He didn't have the longest reign of any king in Israel. And he wasn't perfect as a king in Israel. But he will always be remembered as a man who was after God's own heart. Because good,

bad, or otherwise, his heart was always to come back to the Lord. Amen. Father, we come before you and I just thank you for the time that we've been able to have in your word this morning. And Lord, I thank you for just this example of a man, David, who gives us all hope to know that you don't have to be perfect. You just have to have a heart for you. And so Lord,

would you give us an undivided heart that we could seek your face. Lord, give us an undivided heart to serve you with. So Father, move in us we pray. In Jesus' name. Amen. Be blessed.