1 Chronicles 22
David
had a Dream – a desire – Build God a house – Denied – Man of Blood – But I will
let your son do it.
A) Well the time has arrived
for David who is old now to pass the Baton to Solomon –
B) But before He went David prepared
to get the materials for the temple
1) He couldn’t build it –
but He would do what he could.
C) Gather the materials and
the workers – prepare his son
1) He would write Psalm 30
which was to be sung – for the dedication of the temple – an event David
wouldn’t even live to see.
Then David said,
“This is the house of the LORD God, and this is the altar of burnt offering for
Now
We saw in our study last time – David’s greatest sin – numbering the pp. –
A)Plague - / Angel of the
Lord – sword – 70,000 slain – David cries out Punish me
B) Prepare to sacrifice –
David heart is relieved – without the shedding of blood no remission –
Sacrifice meant – provision
C) David buys
a piece of Ground from Ornan – David realizes in this spot where the fire came
down – sacrifice was offered
1) This would be the spot –
where the new temple would be built.
D) Time to prepare
David gathers men and material for building the temple. V. 2-4
So David
commanded to gather the aliens who were in the
and he appointed
masons to cut hewn stones to build the house of God. And David prepared iron in
abundance for the nails of the doors of the gates and for the joints, and
bronze in abundance beyond measure, and cedar trees in abundance; for the
Sidonians and those from Tyre brought much cedar wood to David.
Cedar
trees in abundance:
A)The cedar trees of
B)This
means David (and Solomon after him) wanted to build the temple out of the best
materials possible.
C)It also means that they
were willing to build this great temple to God with “Gentile” wood and using
“Gentile” labor.
D)This was a temple to the
God of
1)
Only Jews built the tabernacle, “But the temple is not built without the aid of
the Gentiles.
2)
It would be a place for all to come.
E)
Picture of the Church – Both Jews and Gentiles in Jesus make up the
V.5
David’s vision for the preparation of the temple.
Now David said,
"Solomon my son is young and inexperienced,{TENDER KJV} and the house to be built for the Lord must be exceedingly
magnificent, famous and glorious throughout all countries. I will now make
preparation for it." So David made
abundant preparations before his death.
Exceedingly
Magnificent
A)NOTE: The house that was
to be built to the Lord was NOT to be cut rate.
B)It wasn’t to be bargain
basement or missionary barrel. It was to be done RIGHT.
C)One
of the things that bothers me is that so
often in Christian ministry so much of what is done is cut rate and done with
left overs and junk.
D)That is SAD and WRONG.
1)We
need not be extravagant but we should do our BEST for ANYTHING that we do for
the Lord.
Now
The Chronicler was vitally concerned to insure support for the rebuilding of
the temple in his day.
A)What
could be more fitting stimulus for dedication in this regard could then be
found than in the example set by David when he made preparations for the construction
of that temple in his day.”
B)
Unfortunately – didn’t work – Haggai – rise up and rebuke – because they
neglected God’s house to concentrate on their own
C) David’s heart was the
opposite – he wanted God’s house to the BEST
Rd v.6-10
David
has two construction projects going on now – A)One
is in the life of his son – preparing to be King
B) The other is to prepare
for the construction of the temple
It
wouldn’t make any sense for David to just do the one.
C)To
only prepare his son with out giving the means to carry out the vision wouldn’t
have made any sense.
D)But to gather all the
materials and not to prepare his son would have been an even greater mistake –
1)
Keys to a Ferrari to a 12 year old
11 Now, my son, may the LORD be with you; and may you prosper,
and build the house of the LORD your God, as He has said to you.
Now
this is big what David shares here!
A)The
Lord be with you and prosper you – and build
B) David
had learned the value of first having the Lord with him before prospering his
hand materially.
Bb) Longed to know the
Lord’s presence
C) This man after God’s own
heart – Desired to know God was with Him – Psalm 27
1)
David had the heart of a priest – I think would have gladly given it all up to
serve in that way.
D)
Solomon – the Lord be with you! – Key
1)
Solomon make sure you are with the Lord – and He will be with you.
E)The key to real success –
Prospering – having the Lord with you!
11
Now, my son, may the LORD be with you; and may you prosper, and build the house
of the LORD your God, as He has said to you. 12 Only may the LORD give you
wisdom and understanding, and give you charge concerning
A)The Lord give you Wisdom
and understanding:
Understanding: Speaks of
insight, direction, knowledge.
Wisdom = the application of
that Knowledge and understanding.
Knowing how to put it into
practice –
The
two go together – It is important for us to understand the heart of God. Why He
says – do this / avoid that
A)At the heart of all those
exhortations is a God who loves us and wants to the best for us. – Father who
knows best
B) Never to make our lives
miserable – or to constrict us – but on the contrary he wants to free us
1)
He wants us to experience the ultimate in why he made us
C) Wisdom
and understanding – go hand in hand – Understanding gives the knowledge and the
heart behind it
1)Wisdom gives the
application and the motivation to carry it out
V.13b Be strong and of good courage; do not fear nor be
dismayed.
A)Interesting that the Lord
gives this charge to several of his leaders in the bible –
B) I think he gives it
because he knows that we feel dismayed / fearful and overwhelmed
1) SO He says to Moses /
Joshua / David / Timothy / Solomon / Gideon – Don’t be afraid – be strong and
of good courage
Solomon could take courage
and reject fear because God promised David that as long as his sons walked in
obedience, they would keep the throne of
(1 Kings 2:1-4).
This is an amazing promise.
No matter what the Assyrians or the Egyptians or the Babylonians did,
As long as David’s sons were
obedient and followed God with their heart and with all their soul, God
would establish their kingdom.
He would take care of the
rest.
The
Lord had blessed Solomon – He gave Solomon wisdom and understanding – the
problem was – he didn’t heed it.
A)Solomon wrote the book of
proverbs – sound advice and wisdom for his son. –
B) He didn’t practice it –
gave himself over to every vice – In the end he would write in Ecclesiastes –
All Vanity!
C)
If only Solomon had stayed at that place – of Humble and healthy fear of the
responsibility he was given
1) We need to watch that
whenever we start to experience some success –
Cc)
There comes a point in the lives of so many of these leaders – especially
Solomon
1) Where they have success –
experience blessing – suddenly their confidence shifts from the Lord to
themselves –
D) Or their surroundings-
you can almost hear the Lord say: Go back to being fearful and dismayed – it
was better for you
RD V. 14-16a
I
love this David has gone to great lengths to make sure that everything is in
place – All Provision made.
A)And there is no hint that
David wants a plague with his name on it or special
engraved pew
B) I hear stories all the
time of Churches where pp give some huge amount – but
there are strings attached.
1)Name on a pew / picture in
the Lobby – bronze statue in the courtyard
C) So glad those who give
here are not that way: Give freely to the Lord – no strings attached
D) David is doing all he can
to help get things in place and he wants nothing in return accept maybe for his
son to realize – this was hard to do.
Note
V.14 again – David tells his son I have taken much trouble to prepare the house
of the Lord.
A)Interesting: I think
anyone who has ever passed on a business, a house, a ministry, -
Anything that
took some time to build
B) You want the person that
your passing it onto to appreciate the labor that went into this.
1)
David has spent years preparing and acquiring the necessary workers and
materials – Hard work – Preparation
C)
He wants Solomon to appreciate what he has done – what he has put into this –
so he throws this in.
1) Solomon is getting everything
handed to him on a silver platter and David wants him to know – Didn’t come
easy!
So
David says to Solomon everything is in place – so now V.16b
“Arise and
begin working, and the LORD be with you."
“Arise therefore
and be doing and the LORD be with you.” KJV
That
is a great philosophy – So often people sit around waiting for something to
happen. – Some big revelation
A)There is definitely a
place for waiting on the Lord and resting in the Lord –
B) But whenever we talk
about those terms and ideas in scripture it is always in the context of an ACTIVE rest – ACTIVE waiting.
1)Picture is never one of
sitting around – waiting for some big revelation.
C)The idea in waiting and in rest is not inactivity but it
means to not strive –
1)
not try to do something in my own
strength or energy.
2. But I am doing what God
has put in front of me resting in His provision guidance -
D)
I have found 9-10 out of 10 the Lord leads me in the midst of what I am already
doing.
1) Saying: Easier to Steer a
moving car!
E) I think of Eleazar whom
was sent to go and find a wife for Isaac, he said “As
I was going the Lord made known His way to me.”
1)That is a regular picture
that we see in scripture. – God’s men moving – active – God leading as they were moving.
So
often we want to know the whole picture – where am I going what is the plan –
God doesn’t do it that way.
A)He says Arise up and be
doing – and I will show you the way.
B) I sometimes see those in the
Church who have this sense that they are going to do something great for God.
1)Be a missionary – start a
ministry{ go full time service for the Lord in some way. – Excited – God has
shown them that
C) I
think that is great / cool / exciting to have a sense that you want to
do something BIG FOR GOD.
1) I like to see people that
dream!
But
what concerns me is the people who do nothing while they are waiting for the “
big thing” to happen.
A)I don’t see that in
scripture: the scriptural mandate is Be
faithful with what is in front of you then the Lord will lead you into
something greater!
B) What
is in front of you? A couple of kids – your kids – need raised up in the
ways of the Lord
1) Unbelievers at your work
–
C) High
School ministry: Dan heart for Discipleship – 6 counselors trying to
reach 100 students –
1)Jr
High a little better 8 trying to reach 80
D) You know advertisers are
aggressively targeting our teenagers
They want to introduce them
to every vile – immoral thing out there
E) Who in the Church will
rise up and join the battle.
What
is in front of you – Children’s ministries { double the amount of teachers 1
year from now! /
A)Blessed by 6-8 called to
be pastors –teaching in Children’s ministry -
B)What is in front of you?
Spanish outreach – get involved – Face paint – Hair cuts – man a booth
C)
Convalescent homes Parking lot – Birth choice –
1) Music for Home group –
Discipleship – Salt and Light – clean up community
D) Rise up and begin working
– { A word from the Lord for some of you tonight
RD V.17-19
Now
v.19 is a special verse to me – the Lord gave this to me about 6 months ago –
Going thru 1 Chronicles in my Devotions
A) I was feeling discouraged
by how long our approvals were taking on the building project
B) I started wrestling with-
Are we wasting our time?
C)It was about a year and
half ago – A guy who no longer attends Church here – said to me –you guys will
never build a Church –always going to be here.
Things
were taking so long and I was thinking – maybe that was prophetic.
A)) Started second guess and
put aside all the things that the Lord had made clear He was in this
B)
Sell the land make a profit – poor the money into missions or something { time
is short save as many pp in foreign nations as possible
C)
SO I was wrestling thru all of this when I came to this verse in my Devotions:
Lord spoke to me in 2 ways:
1. Stay the course – I am in
this – I am working this is going to happen
2. Build up the believers –
the Sanctuary –
D) I am more committed to
the local Church and our community than ever.
1) Love
missions / always do missions – excited about the trip and group going
to
2) Things happening in
E) Passion is for right
here: our Youth / Guys in the shepherds School
More
Vision – less energy – Big Doc appt yesterday
The
one guys dread- Wasn’t as bad –
A)Great health - need to lose 20lbs – I could have told you
that
B) Getting older – Desire
for more –
1) Talked to a Pastor
yesterday – 1 year Sabbatical
C) My heart is not there at
all. - So much that I want to do! – Lord
what is feasible -
1)
I believe we are going to be entering into a new season of ministry & right
now time to prepare raise up
D)
Concentrating
on here: First mission field – 600,000 pp live in these cities – O. V. S. C. E.
- 10% believers – 60,000 Christians
A)540,000 going to hell –
lets say 20% really high still 420,000 pp that don’t know Jesus
B) My passion – my vision is to teach you / stir you up / train you up
to go out into your world and shine for Christ – share Christ
C) This verse for me was a
mandate from the Lord !
1) Stay the course and refocus
on what I have called you to do
But
notice the order in V. 19
1.
Set your heart & your
soul to seek the Lord.
Fruitful ministry is always
going to be built around a Strong devotional life
Ministry can be taken away –
Never what you have with the Lord { Mary
Chosen ……taken away
In order for you to light up
someone else you need to be lit