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Psalm 100:2–5 Psalm 100:2 says, "Serve the LORD with gladness! Come into his presence with singing!" Serving the Lord is a joyful thing. And at the same time, serving the Lord must be done with joy. If there is no joy in serving the Lord, then it is not true service, and it is not true faith either. Nor is it a sign of being in a good relationship with him. Whenever we serve the Lord, it must be done with joy. So when is it possible to serve someone with joy? It is possible w

2 Chronicles 22:3–4 "His mother was his counsellor to do wickedly. He did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, like the house of Ahab, for they were his counsellors after the death of his father, to his destruction." Friends, I want to ask you this question. Are the people around you drawing you closer to God — or pulling you further away? The people we look at in today's passage did not simply make bad choices. From the very beginning, they were connected to the wro

Title 2 Kings 2; 4 Everyone, picture this scene with me this morning. The master is leaving. A chariot of fire rises into the sky. The disciple is left alone. But he did not weep. He made a request. 2 Kings 2, verse 9. Elisha says to Elijah: "Please let a double portion of your spirit be upon me." The Hebrew word for "double" is פִּי־שְׁנַיִם (pi-shenayim) — literally, "two mouths' worth." This is not simply a request for more power. It is the exact phrase used in Deuteronomy

Key Text: 2 Chronicles 7:14; Matthew 25:4 Passage: 2 Chronicles 7:14; Matthew 25:1–13; 1 Corinthians 10:12; Hebrews 3:17–19 When Solomon had completed the construction of the temple and finished his prayer of dedication to God, fire came down from heaven. It consumed the burnt offerings and the sacrifices, and the glory of the LORD filled the temple. The priests could not even enter. All Israel bowed down on the pavement and worshipped (2 Chronicles 7:1–3). Seven years of con

1 Kings 6:12–13 Imagine you spent seven years pouring everything you had into something. Cedar from Lebanon. Gold from Ophir. Craftsmen from Tyre. A workforce of 183,000 men. The greatest building the world had ever seen rising before your eyes. And right in the middle of it all — whilst the hammers are still swinging — God stops and says this. "Concerning this house that you are building — if you will walk in my statutes, obey my rules, and keep all my commandments, then I w

1 Kings 3:9 — "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?" What would you do if God appeared before you and said: "Ask for whatever you want me to give you"? This is not imagination. It actually happened. And the answer one young king gave to that question is the climax of every passage we have read today. Look at Psalm 83. Edom, Moab, Ammon, Philistia, Assyria

Psalm 16:8 I have set the LORD always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken. Psalms 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19, 20, 21 When things begin to shake, what do you reach for? This question runs through all nine psalms we have read today. Psalm 12 describes a world drowning in lies. Psalm 13 cries out: "How long will you be silent, God?" Psalm 14 indicts those who have erased God from their thinking. Psalm 17 is David's prayer from the middle of a siege.

Key Verse: 1 Chronicles 29:14 "But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this? Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand." Text: 1 Chronicles 29:1–22 | 1 Kings 1 Introduction In today's passage, we witness one of the most dramatic moments of royal succession in the entire history of Israel. And yet 1 Kings 1 and 1 Chronicles 29, though they describe the same event at the same point in time, tell

1 Chronicles 28:19 "All this," David said, "I have in writing as a result of the Lord’s hand on me, and he enabled me to understand all the details of the plan." [A Life of Gracious Completion] Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, one of the most challenging tasks in life is handing over a work we have begun into the hands of another. It is our natural human inclination to desire to reap the harvest ourselves and to stand in the place of glory. The passage we are looking at

Psalm 51:10 "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me." Matthew chapter 1 contains the genealogy of Jesus Christ. For a Jewish reader, a genealogy is a document of honour. Yet at verse 6, we stop. "David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah's wife." Why did God place a story of sin — a name stained with shame — into the very bloodline of the Messiah? First Chronicles 20:1 opens with these words: "In the spring, at the time when

2 Samuel 3:1/ 23:15-17 2 Samuel 3:1 opens like this: "The war between the house of Saul and the house of David lasted a long time. David grew stronger and stronger, while the house of Saul grew weaker and weaker." "A long time." Seven and a half years in Hebron. Not strong overnight. Through a long and grinding war, day by day, little by little — growing stronger. The Kingdom of God is always built this way. Never completed in a single moment. In a long fight, gradually, incr

Psalm 142:5 | 1 Samuel 22:1-2 | 1 Chronicles 12:18 A cave is a place with walls on every side. Nowhere to go forward. A place of hiding. A place no one knows. In 1 Samuel 22, David is in exactly that place. Chased by Saul, having lost Jonathan, having lied to the priest at Nob, having drooled before the Philistine king and been driven away — he flees into the cave of Adullam. This was the lowest point of David's life. But it was precisely in that cave that God began to work.

Psalm 34:1, 4, 18 (Background: 1 Samuel 21:10-15) Right now, at the start of this morning, I want to ask you one thing. What is in your heart as you begin this day? Is there heaviness? Fear? A problem from yesterday that is still unresolved today? If so, this Word is especially for you. Look at the superscription of Psalm 34. "A psalm of David, when he pretended to be insane before Abimelech, who drove him away." This is not simply background information. It is this psalm's a

[1Sa 15:22, NIV] But Samuel replied: "Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the LORD? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams." [1Sa 16:7, NIV] But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart." Today we have two men before us.

"Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening." (1 Samuel 3:10) 1 Samuel chapter 3 opens with these words: "In those days the word of the Lord was rare; there were not many visions." This is not simply a historical observation. It is a diagnosis of the spiritual condition of an entire age. The temple was there. The priests were there. Sacrifices were being offered. Every religious form was in place. And yet the word of God was not being heard. His voice had gone silent. Why? To

Joshua 7:1, 11-12, 19 / 9:14 [Jos 7:1, NIV] But the Israelites were unfaithful in regard to the devoted things; Achan son of Karmi, the son of Zimri, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of them. So the LORD's anger burned against Israel. [Jos 7:11-12, NIV] 11 Israel has sinned; they have violated my covenant, which I commanded them to keep. They have taken some of the devoted things; they have stolen, they have lied, they have put them with their own possession

Deuteronomy 15:15 / 16:17 "Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and the LORD your God redeemed you. That is why I give you this command today." (Deuteronomy 15:15, NIV) "Each of you must bring a gift in proportion to the way the LORD your God has blessed you." (Deuteronomy 16:17, NIV) Dear friends, As you read through Deuteronomy chapters 13 to 16, one word keeps coming back again and again. "Remember." When faced with the temptation of a false prophet — remember. When brin

Deuteronomy 10:12-13, 16 "And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments and statutes of the LORD, which I am commanding you today for your good?" In chapter 10, Moses speaks of the second set of stone tablets he received from God. The first tablets had already been broken. When Moses came down f

Numbers 13:30–33 (NIV) 30 Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, "We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it." 31 But the men who had gone up with him said, "We can't attack those people; they are stronger than we are." 32 And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, "The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. 33 We saw the Nep

Numbers 9:15–23 Throughout our lives, we are beings who must constantly ask, "Which way should I go?" Today, Numbers chapter 9 gives us the clearest answer. To the people of Israel standing in the middle of the wilderness, God declares: "Do not be afraid. I will lead you myself." When the Cloud Stays: The Grace of Waiting "When the cloud remained over the tabernacle for a long time, the Israelites obeyed the LORD's order and did not set out." (Numbers 9:19) When the cloud sto