Sunday August 28, 2016

The Stories of Eight Ancient Kings Who Sought God’s Glory above Their Own! In Pursuit of Glory

Next Sunday – Final Message King Josiah (2 Kings 22:1-23:30) (2 Chronicles 34-35) In Pursuit of Glory Next Sunday – Final Message

A look at King David, the second king to rule over the United Kingdom of Israel WHY David?

David was the standard against whom all the kings who followed were measured.

2 Chronicles 17:3 The Lord was with Jehoshaphat, because he walked in the earlier ways of his father David. He did not seek the Baals,

2 Chronicles 29:1-2 Hezekiah began to reign when he was twenty-five years old, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Abijah the daughter of Zechariah. 2 And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, according to all that David his father had done.

2 Chronicles 28:1 Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. And he did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord, as his father David had done.

1 Kings 15:1, 3 Now in the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam the son of Nebat, Abijam began to reign over Judah. . . And he walked in all the sins that his father did before him, and his heart was not wholly true to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father.

This morning a look at what one thing made David such a great king. Don Mills, Chairman of our elder team

One characteristics that made David a great King… His hunger and thirst for God

Psalm 63:1-4 O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you;     my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you,     as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. 2 So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary,     beholding your power and glory. 3 Because your steadfast love is better than life,     my lips will praise you. 4 So I will bless you as long as I live;     in your name I will lift up my hands.

Psalm 63:5-8 My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food,     and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips, 6 when I remember you upon my bed,     and meditate on you in the watches of the night; 7 for you have been my help,     and in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy. 8 My soul clings to you;     your right hand upholds me.

Thirst …a craving, resulting in a basic instinct to drink Thirst …a craving, resulting in a basic instinct to drink. It is a part of our physical makeup. It is a need that God created in each of us. Hunger… a condition in which a person, for a sustained period, is unable to eat sufficient food to meet basic nutritional needs.

“Desert Experience”

“The greatest enemy of hunger for God is not the poison but apple pie “The greatest enemy of hunger for God is not the poison but apple pie. It is not the banquet of the wicked that dulls our appetite for heaven but endless nibbling at the table of the world. It is not the X-rated video but the prime-time dribble of the triviality we drink in every night.” John Piper…Hunger for God

God has prepared a banquet for us -- a feast of His presence. ….But we won't have the appetite for it if we're satisfied with something else.

"As the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God". Psalm 42:1-2

Ps. 107:9 states that God “satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things” But we must be thirsty and hungry!

Roadblocks to Hunger Sickness Snacking

“Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from him “Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from him.  He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken.  Psalm 62:5-8

“Whom have I in heaven but you “Whom have I in heaven but you?  And earth has nothing I desire besides you.  My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” Psalm 73:26-26

The most difficult person each of us has to deal with is our self. We get in the way of God.

"I have sinned against the Lord." 2 Samuel 12:13

Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.’  “This is what the Lord says: ‘Out of your own household I am going to bring calamity on you.” 2 Samuel 12:10-11a

If you suspect that some form of spiritual sickness is taking the edge off your hunger for God, don't feel condemned! Cry out with the psalmist, "Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me...and see if there is any wicked way in me." Ps. 139:23

What if you're not spiritually sick from sin, but you've been snacking?

“Do not love the world or the things in the world “Do not love the world or the things in the world...For all that is in the world--the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life--is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.” 1 John 2:15-17

Before you pick up that favorite book, pick up the Bible. Before you check your emails or text messages, put an app on your phone or tablet that has a daily Bible devotion and read that first. Before you turn on your favorite radio station in the car while you’re driving to work or going shopping, pray.

Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him. Psalm 34:8

“Where is the focus of my time?” “What am I thirsty and hungry for?”

Then the people asked for a king, and he gave them Saul son of Kish, of the tribe of Benjamin, who ruled forty years. After removing Saul, he made David their king. God testified concerning him: “I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.” Acts 13:21-23 

God testified concerning him: “I have found Donald son of Walter, a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.”

Next Sunday – Final Message King Josiah (2 Kings 22:1-23:30) (2 Chronicles 34-35) In Pursuit of Glory Next Sunday – Final Message